Where is our Place in the Circle of life?

By Kendall Milton

I’ve been blessed to go to far corners of the world

Where the only “local joint” is a watering hole

Where GPS pin points are small bushes and turds

And the only pedestrians are animal herds

Seeing elephants lumbering, wild and free

Uninhibited and beautiful is a sight to see

And just like humans, their happiness lies

Within the soul's window, known as the eyes

Yet we beat them, and chain them, and ride them for pleasure

A heart can still break, when skins tough as leather

Holding wisdom that's ancient, yet forced into zoos

It's like the incarceration of me and you

And so it seems I have this internal strife,

Where is our place in the circle of life?

A lion kills when it must feed its child

Never just to hurt, and yet its called "wild"

While humans, we rape, we kill, we destroy

Treating other's lives like they're merely toys

They say we’re the ones who are empathetic

But take the “emp” out, and we’re just pathetic

The rhino once roamed abundant and free

But now he's nearly extinct thanks to you and me

Robbing them of their horns, while they die without grace

Destroying one species to grow the human race

We humans, we don’t keep everything in flow

Like a bacteria, we spread, destroy and grow

Black, white, spotted, striped - animals they coexist

But humans? We're trapped in our boxes of prejudice

Forcing other beings from their land, telling them they’re lesser

Because of skin color, greed, and power, we are the aggressor

They say we’re the most intelligent beings

But I think the issue some of us aren’t seeing

Is that we’re never actually just humans “being”

We conqueor, and pillage Mother Earth

Though her green trees and fertile soil gave us birth

With no predators, the whole world is our prey

Which is why it boils hotter, every day

We dance outside of the circle forcing it tighter together

Plucking from it what we desire, for boots made of leather

Or a fabulous purse, or a lavish fur coat

Murdering other beings so we can gloat

I hope its not too late before humans end this strife

Where is our place in this circle of life?

November 21st, 2016