being a poem in two parts starring the chickens for Aurora and Robert whose chickens they are

Farmyard Philosophy being a poem in two parts starring the chickens for Aurora and Robert whose chickens they are I: Squawk The chickens have drawn their dusty baths In tubs they have dug in the ground Fowl or run afoul our dusty paths Where that which nourishes destroys Cross where we both are doing the best We know without knowing the end Of the story while guessing the rest Bobbing weaving walking around Waiting for whatever life might send Patiently since we have no choice Though we sound impatient when hurried And that squawk creeps into the voice Fowl and those run afoul get worried Worry becomes the background noise While the foreground music of the mind Whether of eggs or poetry Sings about leaving good things behind And about leaving graciously But living till then human or hen So it seems right we never know when II: Meat Birds Meat birds look to the scratch and not the sky The farmer sees he need not clip their wings Meat birds words do not include the word why They generally do not ask about things Except about the scratch naturally When we never cock an eye to the sky But only eat and excrete and revolve Then we miss what we were meant to live by So our ride on the ball turns out all wrong And this is how some short lives seem so long In our hearts we know we have to evolve If you find yourself in the farmyard now And you are not a meat bird after all Be nice to the meat birds learn from them how It is to be like them and then recall That you find your eye will stray to the sky And you find your words include the word why And you are not a meat bird after all Except about the scratch naturally We are not meat birds not you and not me +Steven Curtis Lance Copyright MMX