Poetry
An exchange with a battery hen. (c) David Jeffrey
A piglet asked a hen "Do you resent
how you, inside a cage, your life have spent?
No room to stand and exercise your legs,
you sit all day and lay your stupid eggs,
while I am free to run and play,
I'm glad I have no eggs to lay."
"I thank you for your pity," said the hen,
but think on this as you run in your pen:
your freedom's not all it appears to be,
your liberty in fact depends on me,
because my eggs you so despise
are used for egg and bacon pies."
how you, inside a cage, your life have spent?
No room to stand and exercise your legs,
you sit all day and lay your stupid eggs,
while I am free to run and play,
I'm glad I have no eggs to lay."
"I thank you for your pity," said the hen,
but think on this as you run in your pen:
your freedom's not all it appears to be,
your liberty in fact depends on me,
because my eggs you so despise
are used for egg and bacon pies."