How would you like to live in a cage
That was just about ten feet square,
With no toys to play with and nothing to do ---
Just you and a bed and a chair?
Oh, sure you'd be fed (the same thing each day)
You'd have water (unless they forgot)
And since you would never be going outside
you wouldn't get cold, or too hot.
But oh, you'd be lonely just sitting alone
with no one to talk to all day.
You'd remember the trees, and the grass and the
breeze,
the places where you used to play.
You'd remember your friends, you'd remember the
sky,
and games and strawberries and sun,
And you'd know you could never go skating again
or swimming, or ride bikes, or run.
You'd get mad and scream and throw things
around;
you'd kick and you'd pound on the wall,
and your owners would scold you, and say to
themselves,
"He isn't a nice pet at all!"
The more you got made, the less they would like
you,
the less they'd remember to care
About if you had water of if you got fed
or if you were lonely in there.
And then you would know what it's like to be
kept
as a pet when you're meant to be free,
and you'd listen when wild things are trying to
say
"Please don't make a pet out of me."
~ Beverly Armstrong
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