What They Know

White like snow,
Yet they don’t know
We can still see where they hide
And although that may be a fact,
There is no justification
for carrying an innocent seal in a sack
Those seals may only have cries, not voices
However, we all make choices
So why must we kill pups,
And let their blood spread across the ice,
For a coat sold for a large price?
Those pups should be playing, developing bonds,
Discovering the world around them, and learning
For they are unsure of many things,
But if there is one thing they know,
It is fear


~ Gabriella Singh (age 12)

My friend Gabriella attended this year's Humane Society of the United States "Taking Action for Animals" conference in Washington D.C., and with Mikhaela Singh and Julia Worcester, participated in the first HSUS Student Summit. To help Gabriella help the fur seals, please go to the website of Humane Society International.

Photo: Nigel Barker

Estranged by distance, he relearns
The way to quiet not his own,
The light at rest on tree and stone,
The high leaves falling in their turns,

Spiraling through the air made gold
By their slow fall. Bright on the ground
They wait their darkening, commend
To coming light the light they hold.

His own long comedown from the air
Complete, safe home again, absence
Withdrawing from him tense by tense
In presence of the resting year,

Blessing and blessed in this result
Of times not blessed, now he has risen.
He walks in quiet beyond division
In surcease of his own tumult.

~ Wendell Berry, Sabbath Poems

Photo: Larry Gizinski