I didn't know this one, Jim. Thanks for posting it. He's sitting in his garden chair, so he has me already, haha.
Not one of them was capable of lying,
There was not one which knew that it was dying
reminded me of Whitman's animals
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things
which Lawrence would surely have loved too.
And the bird in my little garden poem probably springs from the same source.
Whatever we think or say, someone has thought and said it better before us!
And I'm sure someone has said that before (and better)
This was a treat to read.