Hunting season and the tender love between geese

I live in a rural area and often hear gun shots. Animals are being hunted on both private and public lands all around us. My dad was a “big game hunter.” But “The Hunter’s Poem,” has kept faith alive in my heart that all hunters have the potential to change. It has also shown me how beautifully animals convey who they are to those who have eyes to see and even the slightest openness in their hearts.

Here is “The Hunter’s Poem by Lemuel T. Ward

A hunter shot at a flock of geese that flew within his reach
Two were stopped in their rapid flight and fell on the sandy beach.
The male bird lay at the water’s edge and just before he died;
He faintly called to his wounded mate and she dragged herself to his side.
She bent her head and crooned to him in a way distressed and wild;
Caressing her one and only mate as a mother would a child.
Then covering him with her broken wing and gasping with failing breath,
She laid her head against his breast, a feeble honk…then death.
This story is true, though crudely told, I was the man in this case.
I stood knee-deep in snow and cold, and the hot tears burned my face.
I buried the birds in the sand where they lay, wrapped in my hunting coat,
And I threw my gun and belt in the bay, when I crossed in the open boat.
Hunters will call me a right poor sport and scoff at the thing I did,
But that day something broke in my heart, and shoot again? God forbid.

Prayer focus on hunters awakening and laying down their guns forever

This week let us focus our prayers and thought energy on hunters and the innocent animals whom they pursue with deadly weapons. May animals the world over reach the hearts of every hunter—may their astounding beauty, their love for each other, and their grace awaken each hunter to the truth—that the animals are our sacred brothers and sisters. And may they lay down their guns forever.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and visionary thoughts. Thanks to all of you, compassion is encircling the earth for all beings. Thank you for your devotion to truth, love, liberation and peace for all beings.

With Love, peace, and gratitude from Judy, and Will, Madeleine, and the Circle of Compassion team.

If you haven’t already done so, please join us at the Prayer Circle for Animals facebook page.

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