The Call

I speak to you.

Yes,

To you.

I may not look like you.

But I have emotions.

I feel

I live

I breathe.

I am rid of my freedom,

Yet I have caused no harm.

You go to the zoo,

And watch us.

While we watch you,

With sadness.

But you laugh

And smile 

Carelessly.

And you bring us here

Just to see what we look like.

Do we bring you to our home?

Cage you,

Muzzle you,

                Trap you,

                                Hurt you,

Just for others to look.

                                And look.

                                                And look.

I am a giraffe from the African savannahs,

Now I live in the cages of California.

I am an ostrich from Tanzania,

Who lived with a flock.

Now I live without a male mate,

Isolated.

I am a Lawes Parotia from Papua New Guinea,

I used fly and dance in jungles 

That would stretch as far as the eyes could see,

But now I sit.

In a little enclosure that stretches

Barely far enough.

We are alive with feelings of

Pain,

Anger,

Happiness,

Sadness,

Grief,

We are like you.

But you do not treat us

How you would like to be treated.

So, we wait.

For you to heed our call.

Release us.