Elephants Mourn Their Dead 
(Happy the Elephant)
by Michael Doyle

No freedom, no liberty
No right to fundamental dignity
Happy the Elephant pays the cost
And the decision it seems is lost

There will be no sanctuary
Personhood has been denied capacity
Regardless of intelligence, elephants are things
Substantially rejected as "human beings"

There was only Wilson's quiet dissent
Equating the finding as chattel in the present
Is this legal reasoning arbitrary
When we deny sentient beings their autonomy?

The unfeeling win their bid at talking
Shuffling words while they keep on walking
Right past all the points of similarity
Between majestic giants and humanity

Elephants, they mourn their dead
Let that roll around in your head
They recognize themselves in mirrors they see
Isn't that a hint that they recognize beauty?

In a world where many humans lack the capacity
It has been shown that elephants have empathy
The keenest sense of language is nonverbal in ability
Science has shown elephant language has complexity

An elephant, it seems, never forgets its memory
While picky eaters, they cling to and love their family
Dominant tusked like humans who favor a given hand
All of these factors make it hard to understand

Zoo enclosures are often like solitary confinement
And not just for aesthetic, need real refinement
Happy the Elephant touches an "x" or her forehead
In full recognition  of self and other things unsaid

(c) September 10, 2022  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved