The Ability to Look Away (A Prayer)

God, in your infinite wisdom, 

you gave us animals to kill and eat

With our teeth as sharp as lion’s

and these claws at the end of our feet

The sight of bleeding bodies,

like any carnivore,

is a distress upon our stomachs,

so please package them in the store

And find someone in desperation, 

maybe the immigrants we deplore 

to work in dangerous conditions 

to kill them behind closed doors 

It’s a mostly perfect system,

we are so grateful to thee,

but we noticed some tiny errors,

we were able to remedy

You put the most delicious food

in a mother cow’s teet

We still found it anyway

Was that your game of hide and seek?

We breed and separate babies 

and turn them into veal

We eat the food you made for them

with almost every meal

You gave them room to move about 

with grasses, hills, and trees

But we stuff them tightly into sheds

to live amongst disease 

I don’t mean to criticize creation

or your mysterious ways 

but you gave them beaks and horns

and nuts that just get in the way

So we grab our blades and rubber bands

to remove what doesn’t belong

We can’t blame you, here and there,

for getting it a little wrong 

Our appetite is enormous 

Their pain, not our concern 

You made us stewards of the earth

that we pillage and we burn

Now we bow our heads 

each and every day

to thank you for our food

and the ability to look away 

Written December 15, 2024