Heritage
Frank Halliwell
Look around us at this dismal
Monument to human pride.
Vegetation stripped and wasted,
Future riches thrown aside,
Once this land was all rich jungle
Rampant growth on every hand
Home to hundreds of wild creatures,
Buffalo and sleek Eland..
And the Monarch of this forest
Was a cat of grace and might,
And his striped coat glowed alternately
With noon and blackest night!
Keen of eye, and swift and certain
In pursuit when quarry runs,
They were brave majestic hunters,
But no match for shooter's guns.
Hunted down for love of killing,
For his coat; a souvenir
For the bored, a moment's thrilling
To be toasted with a beer.
One day you can tell your children
How men wouldn't take a stand,
When the forests brushed these heavens,
And the Tiger walked this land.
***
Categories:
eland, art,
Form: Verse
Jabberwocky Redux
After reading too much Aquinas
Would an aphid reside in an onager’s ear
if the onager’s master spoke Twi?
Or a Gascony scop with a leper elope
if a civet leapt out of a tree?
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
Would an addax in Denmark gyrate
if an emu in Sweden bore freight?
Or an eland in Chile complain
if jerboas in Goa refrain?
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
For really I thought ‘twas the onager taught
the aphid the tenor of Twi, and
that Gascony scops with Norwegians eloped
when Danes had lepers to tea.
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
eland, confusion
Form: Free verse
Let Any Agnostic Provide a Reply
After reading too much Aquinas
Would an aphid reside in an onager’s ear
if the onager’s master spoke Twi?
Or a Gascony scop with a leper elope
if a civet leapt out of a tree?
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
Would an addax in Denmark gyrate
if an emu in Sweden bore freight?
Or an eland in Chile complain
if jerboas in Goa refrain?
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
For really I thought ‘twas the onager taught
the aphid the tenor of Twi, and that
Gascony scops with Norwegians eloped
when Danes had lepers to tea.
You doubt it? Read Thomas and see.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
eland, faith
Form: Free verse