Remembering Boris
This year we pay special tribute to our dear turkey Boris, who lived happily and beloved in our sanctuary at United Poultry Concerns, until his death from a turkey industry illness that could not be cured. His rescuers, Terry Kleeman and Marie Gleason, wrote this poem on his behalf at the time of his death. As we remember Boris this year with love and gratitude, we also remember, with deep sadness, the many millions of turkeys who never knew any happiness, who never had, and never will have, their chance to be, in Boris’s words, “the real turkey inside of me” – a being filled with exuberance and the joy of life.
Boris
You never really got to see
The real turkey inside of me.
The one with a body my frame could have supported
The one with feet where my toes weren’t aborted.
The one who could eat his food with a beak
Like a real bird and not a geek.
The one who wanted to have a mate
But was too large to propagate.
My life had one saving grace
And it was Karen Davis’s sanctuary place.
Yes, a human too was she
But one who took care of me.
I only knew fear and pain,
Now happiness did remain.
Thank you Karen for giving me the chance
To spread my feathers and do a turkey prance.
In my last year, I almost got to be
The real turkey inside of me.
The real turkey inside of me.
The one with a body my frame could have supported
The one with feet where my toes weren’t aborted.
The one who could eat his food with a beak
Like a real bird and not a geek.
The one who wanted to have a mate
But was too large to propagate.
My life had one saving grace
And it was Karen Davis’s sanctuary place.
Yes, a human too was she
But one who took care of me.
I only knew fear and pain,
Now happiness did remain.
Thank you Karen for giving me the chance
To spread my feathers and do a turkey prance.
In my last year, I almost got to be
The real turkey inside of me.
–Love, Boris