--- title: "Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry - IVU - International Vegetarian Union" description: "Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry: The Sending of the Animals For animals, you say were \"sent\" For man's free use and nutriment. Pray, then, inform me and be candid, Why came they aeons before man did, To spend long centuries, on earth Awaiting their devourer's birth?" url: "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2624-history-salt-poetry.html" date: "2026-11-06T00:09:26+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry ![Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/banners/history-salt-poetry.png) *The Sending of the Animals*For animals, you say were "sent" For man's free use and nutriment. Pray, then, inform me and be candid, Why came they aeons before man did, To spend long centuries, on earth Awaiting their devourer's birth? Those ill-timed chattels sent from heaven, Were, sure, the maddest gift e'er given - "sent" for man's use (can we believe it?) When there was no man to receive it! *Grace* To pray for animals, the Bishop vows, Is not canonical. Who prays for cows? But prey upon them - that's the road to take. Behold the Bishop blessing his beefsteak! *Mr Facing Both ways* When the Huntsman claims praise for the killing of foxes, Which else would bring ruin to farmer and land, Yet kindly imports them, preserves them, assorts them, There's a dicrepance I fain understand. When the Butcher makes boast of the killing of cattle, That would multiply fast and the world over-run, Yet so carefully breeds them, rears, fattens and feeds them - Here also, methinks, a fine cobweb is spun. Hark you, then, whose profession or pastime is killing! To dispel your benignant illusions I'm loth; But be one or the other, my double faced brother, Be slayer or saviour - you cannot be both. *Dumb Animals* The air was full of summer sounds; The lambs were gaily bleating; Small birds were gossiping around, Their joyful news repeating. In tones vociferously clear Rooks chattered overhead. "Sweet creatures! How I love to hear Dumb Animals," she said. And as they parleyed each with each Their thoughts and fancies showing, It seemed as though a flood of speech This earth were overflowing. Methought with every breath that moved, A gift of tongues was shed, "How beautiful! I've always loved Dumb Animals," she said. *Homo Sapiens* What mocking elf, on impish mischief bent, Called Man, this barbarous Man, the Sapient; Man, who, disdainful of the nobler way, Still lives by rapine, a dull beast of prey, Nor spares, if so a savage gust he win, To rob his fellows or devour his kin? Yet nearer than he knew that jester came To give rapacious Man the fitting name; For change one single letter, and behold - In "Homo Rapiens" the true tale is told! *Cvm Grano* In an unpublished letter dated 17 February 1927, the poet Ralph Hodgson suggested to Salt a few additional lines to the above verse: Or if that's not a civil thing to do Though every Pytebley gatepost knows it's true, And every stick of Altear proves it, too - Why - still to rob the jester of his joke Drop off the R - but drop it with a pang Of shame at foisting him on better folk: Gorilla, Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Orang! A note on this archive. The history section of this website is drawn from a body of legacy content originally compiled by John Davis, former manager of the International Vegetarian Union. It represents his curation of historical material, and in places includes passages written by him directly. Over the years, the IVU website has migrated between several different hosting servers. In the course of these migrations, a number of PDF files were unfortunately lost, and **some links to PDF documents may no longer function**. Where this is the case, we have chosen to leave the original link text in place, as it may itself carry information of historical value. - Hits: 1398 ## Schema ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html?view=article&id=2624:history-salt-poetry&catid=72","url":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html?view=article&id=2624:history-salt-poetry&catid=72","name":"Henry S. Salt (1851-1939)","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html#archive"},{"@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html?view=article&id=2623:history-salt-index&catid=72"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://ivu.org/#organization"},"description":"The Sending of the Animals For animals, you say were \"sent\" For man's free use and nutriment. Pray, then, inform me and be candid, Why came they aeons before man did, To spend long centuries, on…","about":{"@id":"https://ivu.org/#/schema/person/henry-stephens-salt"}}]} ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://ivu.org" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "IVU", "item": "https://ivu.org/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Interviews", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "History of the Vegetarian Societies", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "history", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "salt", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2624-history-salt-poetry.html" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2624-history-salt-poetry.html" }, "headline": "Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry", "description": "Henry S. Salt: Selected Poetry: The Sending of the Animals For animals, you say were \"sent\" For man's free use and nutriment. Pray, then, inform me and be candid, Why came they aeons before man did, To spend long centuries, on earth Awaiting their devourer's birth?", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "International Vegetarian Union", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://ivu.org/images/logos/logo-ivu-tranparent-background.png" } }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alex Fernandes", "url": "https://ivu.org/international-council.html" }, "datePublished": "2026-10-16T00:00:16+00:00", "dateCreated": "2026-05-29T01:56:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-10-08T00:53:41+00:00" } ```