UNTITLED
I look askance on all attempts
By humans to decide
"What is the nature of this world?
Why do things live and die?"
Our habit long has been to see
The world in just one way
As though upon these topics
Only we should have a say.

Perhaps it's time to reassess
This anthrocentric stance:
We ought to give the animals
More than a passing glance.
If we could learn to look beyond
Our human-centred view
And see the world with different eyes
We'd learn a thing or two.

We little guess what lies behind
The eagle's feral stare:
We cannot sense the inner lives
Of badgers, or of bears,
Or know what dreams the marmot dreams
While huddled in its lair,
Or of what cosmic harmony
The penguin is aware...

So why insist OUR consciousness
Receive superior rank?
If offered to an animal,
It might just say "No, thanks:
You have a gift, it's true,
But we're not certain what it's for....
The world YOU are creating
Saner creatures would abhor.

"Let's face it: we the animals
May be more wise than you.
From time beyond its measuring
OUR motives have been true:
Our sole imperative has been
To live with simple grace--
A far cry from the sad display
Of YOUR poor savage race."

If truth we seek, let's not pretend
Ours is the only way
To pose and speculate upon
The questions of the day.
There may be far more wisdom
In the piglet's quivering snout
Than all the sages men have praised
Could ever dream about.

As published in the Oklahoma Pet Gazette