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The question remains the same:
how to be a good creature
in this topsy-turvy, downsliding world?
"Be peaceful," say the doves,
preening, combing their wings
with smug, pursed beaks.
"Be wily," say the foxes,
leaping into the air, then pouncing
straight down,
after scurrying below-ground mice.
"Make sure of your food-source,"
cluck the inhabitants of the henhouse,
who never have to worry
about morning grain,
unless the old woman falls into a fit
and expires on her doorstep.
"It is a makeshift existence,"
intones the wise owl,
whose home in the bowl of a tree
disappeared in a clearcut.
Life after life passes by, age after age,
yet we do not evolve.
With two polar opposite viewpoints,
nobody wins.
The path to peace is too narrow
for outsized egos.
When will we learn there is no Other,
only Us, and that
we're all in this together?
Yet the animals help each other.
A grey whale, giving birth,
with sharks circling, was suddenly
surrounded by hundreds of dolphins,
who circled around her, stirring up the waters,
until she and her calf were safe.
Dolphins could teach humans a lot
about how to be a good creature.
for Shay's Word List. The video footage of the dolphins protecting the whale is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzhmTRz-B9k
Wait till it is a minute in to see the dolphins begin to circle......it is amazing. Happened off the coast of South Africa some months ago.
I like what you did with the words, Sherry. Humans have much to learn from animals about how to be a good creature!
ReplyDeleteCetaceans of the world, unite! That means not you, sharks. I love how you've made a nod to the source material for your List poem, Sherry. Indeed, there is no Other, only Us.
ReplyDeleteThis really is great and how you have used the words into your own world. Great work.
ReplyDeleteWe humans are always outfoxing each other with our "outsized egos" and shooting ourselves in the foot-- I love your humane creaturely perspective and thanks for sharing the video of the amazing dolphins. It surprised me to learn recently that dolphin pods are composed entirely of female dolphins (except for the youngsters). (The adult males swim solo for the most part.) Great reflective piece, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazingly clever. Too true.
ReplyDeleteOh if we humans could only be better animals.
ReplyDeleteI especially love that fox stanza!
ReplyDelete