No Longer Cattle: A Poem of Ransomed Lives

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I first thought they were cattle. The way they were gathered and moved. Their fear traveled ahead of them. They were taken at night by the roadside. Their keepers did not ask permission. They simply came—and took. Yet I heard their voices call names. They begged for mothers, children, husbands. Not brays. Not cries. They suffered beatings that broke more than skin. Then they were ransomed. Who pays to release breath? Who bargains for dignity? I can no longer deny the truth. These are not cattle. Are we treating humans as something less?

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