Battery Nightmare

• Harry Keats, Grade 4
• Poetry
• 2020

Chickens locked up all day.
Their dreams seep through those cruel dark cages.
People just want what’s cheapest.
Do they have no heart, no empathy?
Lockdown is new for us, but they know it well.
No space to stretch their wings and peck the earth.
No contact with their flock.
Caged away so long as they’re laying.
Discarded as soon as they’re not.
Their lives so short and still so miserable.
No explanation. No escape.
A moment of joy is out of the question.
Cartons of misery lining the shelf.
Who cares about the bird, I saved a buck.
I hope you enjoyed that egg.