Freeze and behold the glorious Tiger!
Don't dare stare down the Tiger.
Watch out! His predatory soul is burning
Look, his eyes are bright.
Silent. Still. He'll draw you in.
His glowing glare and sudden growl puts the
Strongest prey on edge. Chasing them into forests
Where his secret dens of
Family are. He rests in the
Busiest times of the day. But during the night;
Do you know what
His habits are? His immortal
Instincts set in. When conservationists set their hand
To cameras they capture the Tiger in action or
Sleeping. But always something to catch one's eye.
How on earth else could
We safely observe? How much to learn by frame.
Oh yes, dear nameless Tiger, thy
May be beautiful, mighty, fearful
And what could compare to your symmetry?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tiger Tiger, burning bright,
in the forests of the
night; what immortal hand or eye,
could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
~~ William Blake~~
We save remnants from our past
As if precious jewels, we guard them to the last
Won't part with them for millions, even billions
Hand them down as heirlooms to wide-eyed children...
Nostalgia leads the way
Sentiment rules the day
While ideationally we may be far apart ~
We are all conservationists at heart
Innocently lured off Hwange National Park
shot at with a bow and arrow
injured and confused
then tracked down
and killed in cold
blood with a gun
Cecil was killed on July 1 of 2015
whether he was murdered by a
big game hunter or a researcher--
the truth remains—such a friendly
lion did not deserve to die in a horrible way
conservationists and all good people are outraged
surely someone somewhere has to account for this
horrifying act of cruelty and other poaching crimes
Such a colorful bird so pleasing to the sight.
You gathered in huge flocks as armadas in flight.
Massive groupings enough to eclipse the sun’s light,
countless millions living two centuries ago,
with numbers that once would rapidly grow.
You were successful as a species would go.
Your flying is a sighting I will never know.
As many conservationists would plead,
you were hapless victims of insurmountable greed.
Killed in quantities that would often succeed
large amounts surpassing sustenance need.
The story of your extinction is hard to believe.
How quickly it happened is difficult to conceive.
I live in a state shaped by glaciers long ago
In the middle of the heat, we want it to snow
The breadwinner of many homes is what we grow
Here comes another winter, around forty below
Watch out for black ice roads wherever you go
Summer is six months away, yep, don't ya know
Melting snow makes for one big old muddy hole
Changing seasons so often, a backcountry expo
Minnesota fearing Green Bay Packers on a roll
Wilderness found up north, catch it on a pole
Mississippi flowing to its west into the soul
Universities preparing us, system educational
Wisconsinites moving forward on our loam soil
Architectonics with Frank, ingenuity and toil
Hydroelectrical powered first on the Fox flow
Conservationists residing, protecting fallows
Sesquicentennials of livestock, corn in silos
Characteristically unique, breadbasket tempos
It’s forty tears ago this month
That earth day came about
When it was first suggested
It’s success showed lots of doubt.
For many, many years
According to our sources
There wasn’t much concern
For the Earth and it’s resources.
During the 1960’s
Conservationists wished to learn
But womans rights and Vietnam
Were much more of a concern.
Our spacemen took some pictures
And Earth did not look good
This resulted in a movement
To get it looking like it should.
In 1969 off the coast of California
A lot of oiled was spilled
Countless fish and vegetation
And animals were killed.
Soon this lead to Earth Day
Thanks to Denis Hayes
A Harvard student who rallied people
To Conservation ways.
He used the mail and telephone
Any means that he could get
Obviously back in those days
There was no Internet!
Over 20 million folks took part
in the very first Earth Day
There were lectures, games, and concerts
to help to show the way.
To have success and reach our goal
we must practice Conservation
that will be the only way
our Earth will have salvation.
Ralph Taylor