Meat Means Murder

Meat Means Murder by CONFLICT

I'm walking through the grey walkway of the city
And through the brightly lit shops and supermarkets
And I'm walking through the fields of the innocent
Passing by the fairytale farm
Balancing on the brittle edge of a short life
That is ended by the knife

The factory's still churning out, all processed, packed and neat
An obscure butchered substance and the label reads "meat"
Hidden behind false names such as pork, ham, veal and beef
An eye's an eye; a life's a life, the now forgotten belief
Yet, everyday production lines are feeding out this farce
To end up on your table, then shat out of your arse

Yet, still you're queuing, and still you're viewing
Sawing out limbs just right for stewing
Carcasses piled up in a heap
Sort, soft, juicy chunks from freezers deep
Well, can't you see that that juice is blood?
From newborn throats, red rivers flood
Blood from young hearts blood from the vein
Your blood, their blood, serves the same

Now you're at the table, sitting, grinning
Sitting there eating, you never realise the filling
It's served upon a sterile plate, you don't think of the killing
The furthest your brain takes you, "is it for frying or grilling?"
You moan about the seal cull, about the whale slaughter
But does it really matter whether it lives on land or water?
You've never had a fur coat; you think it's cruel to the mink
Well, how about the cow, pig or sheep. Don't they make you think?
Since the day that you were you born, you've never been told the missing link?

As I'm gazing at the baneful products
And from behind the bright colours and false smiles
I can smell the lingering death
And see the decaying skins
Forth from the green grass
The pungent smell of decomposing meat
That penetrates the walls of the kitchen
And from the red lorries on the black
In unison with the red lights and the red juice

Yet, still you're queuing, and still you're viewing
Sawing out limbs just right for stewing
Carcasses piled up in a heap
Sort, soft, juicy chunks from freezers deep
Well, can't you see that that juice is blood?
From newborn throats, red rivers flood
Blood from young hearts blood from the vein
Your blood, their blood, serves the same

The Sunday kitchen spills out the stench of the abattoir
The butcher's blade glistening in the eye of the 'master'
The deadened life of a baby sits upon the plate
The spilt guts falling from the chute to the basting tin
The carcass from the carcrash
In the age of the train-direct from the gates of Sobivor

(1983)