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| A lemur. Of all places... The South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor |
Eat or be eaten,
territorial battles for food,
water, a survival game
understood amongst fauna
and creatures unique
in eastern mangroves
and tropical shores, by
monsoons and seasonal rivers,
along undisciplined mountain's
majestic ridge, over and down
western side into cracked dust
and heat slashed with ribbons
of ancient green.
An isolated garden
of extreme specialization
where spirits of the dead romp,
rapidly shrink, eaten by sawmills
and mining corridors
another fifty years, perhaps,
before all are squeezed, vanished,
left to reside upon a page earmarked
with the Elephant Bird.
by Margaret Bednar, May 3, 2013
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| Vasa Parrot - sometimes described as an intermediate between a parrot & a raptor |
This is linked with Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Transforming Friday's" subject: Madagascar.
The Elephant bird was a huge bird similar to the ostrich, but much bigger, long extinct. The Lemur's name means "spirits of the dead".
12 comments:
Margaret, this is sobering, for there are too many species already extinct. I didn't know about the elephant bird, but I'm not surprised that even something so large can be run off the planet. Look at the elephants, the most benign, beautiful behemoths ever created by Whatever Does The Creating (I call it God).
Thanks for the reminder. I'm an earth mama, too... Amy
Well done reality. Sobering is a good word.
Another specie gone and vanished, just a mark in a page - this is a sad day when we see the ancient green forever gone - love your pictures too ~
Your poem elicits melancholy. The reality, the potential, the loss are all so evident in this read.
Amy said it just right, Margaret...sobering...I love the closing...I can see those earmarked pages. Thank you for writing. ♥
You have written well of the sobering fact so much life is being lost to man's plundering of the wild.
I found your description to be very hard-hitting. The brutal beauty of the island and the awful contemplation of its destruction - both really captured me.
A thoroughly admirable write, Margaret. And your iPhone (with your help) takes great photos.
Although the federal government of Canada purports not to believe in global warming, I see the loss of the rainforests as a major contributor toward precisely that.
The "all" I see squeezed and vanished along with the Elephant Bird includes mankind, with no one but our own species to blame.
K
frightening we will have to give an account on how we cared for this facet of our stewardship as well before the Creator. Wonderful writing as usual friend ~ Blessings Dear.
So very sad, Margaret. Extinction is forever......sigh.
What a beautiful video - horrible to think of such beauty being so wantonly destroyed.
The video is haunting, Margaret, as is your poem. It all breaks my heart.
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