our fellow animals

I've always seen my pets
                   like children.
I don't let them out unless
                     I'm there to
        watch them.
It may sound corny,
        but that's the feeling
I have toward
            my pets.

It baffles me to hear about
              people
leaving their pets out in
below freezing temperatures,
or in their cars when
it's so hot outside
you could
     bake pastries
            on
                 your dashboard.

The idea of animal cruelty
leaves me sick.
I don't understand why
someone would intentionally
         hurt an animal.
In a survival situation
where your family
depends upon the meat
provided by wild game,
          I get it,
but killing and hurting
animals because the
emotion strikes you is
          absurd.

If you can't provide for,
or love an animal as
you would love your
mother, don't get one.
Save that animal for someone
who cares, someone
who would love it the way
       it deserves to be
                                  loved.

Our duty is not only to one
another, but to all things in
turn. It is our responsibility
to make sure we don't fuck
up the world anymore than
it             already            is.