Where are the calves?

Premise: this piece is meant to stress the importance of effective parenting for any given society or nation.

Where are the calves?

The world owner’s voice had I followed

It landed me right outside the main cow shed

I knew there was work to do

I knew there was little time to waste too

He said that I was on a rescue mission

So i walked into the cowshed in haste

I could feel it’s almost tangible loneliness staring at me

There was hardly any movement or even any sign of life

I wondered in deep pain where the shed’s life had gone to

The life that had ever before lived in the key cow shed

The lively life of the jumpy, wise n’ healthy calves I longed to see

Oh dear, what happened to them? I shouted yet no one responded

Oh dear, where is the future of the amazing herd?

As tears rolled down my empty face in despair

I could see the calves’ mothers n’ fathers rested next to the kettle

Not even the grannies seemed bothered by the shed’s emptiness

That the calves were nowhere to be seen didn't bother them

As I walked around to look for any calves remaining within

I was so shocked to realize that

The very few within were lonely and frustrated

They too hardly considered the cow shed as home anymore

I shook my head as I wandered in wonder

I could see the remains of the torn old gates all over the shed

The old n’ rotting walls had all fallen apart

None of the parents seemed to had bothered to repair them

My tears kept on flowing in agony for the herd’s future

I no longer could stay inside the empty cow shed and

So I left for the bushes and the woods and everywhere

To look for the calves,

To look for the herds future,

To look for the lost life,

I keep wishing n' praying the parents would join me in the search

I will carry on with my mission to gather the vulnerable

I’ll try and rescue all I can

For that’s what big and loving brothers are for

 And as she always said;

My African grandma;

 “A herd without calves reaches not to the future.”

Newton J G K. 2013