Crown of Sonnet: Songs of Fauna (15 Sonnets)

(1,512 words)

No 1: ABAB ~ Sandhill Cranes

A descension of value bows night scenes,
the purple canopy edges its hoist,
spirits cool Platte River to lose its sheen,
Nebraskans wake to clarion fields voiced.
A loyal guest calls, it's the Sandhill Cranes,
dancing lessons, fields fattening corn orts,
pecking and choosing established campaigns.
Last state, go afoul, -- a date with the courts.
Locals aid their tally, most from afar,
It is nature's clock, all good things must end,
fly north to breed, and brood, and up to par,
A month's here, till next year, that's how the trend.
Awnings grey, triumphant stirs, the tension,
inspiring, crescendo ... the ascension.

No 2: ABBA ~ Jaguar

Inspiring, crescendo ... the ascension,
of myth and legend as Yaguara,
or "Death in one leap" the sleek frame, Jaguar
as if it's from another dimension.
Leopards bit spotty, but Jaguars take
a rosette form, tell-tale signs like water
that natures them. As a jungle squatter,
prey, and time of hunt, don't discriminate
their mettle. Domains--mine alone; moms play
dads too, tongues play teeth too, cubs play adult
as hunt molds age. Overcast shades result
in a Black Panther coexist display.
Imperil: human expansion collide,
... imagine our continental divide.

No 3: AABB ~ Yellow-Bellied Marmots

Imagine ... our continental divide,
seen by nose lengthers who are not sharp-eyed.
The Yellow-Bellied Marmots, host the most,
from the northernmost down off the west coast.
There are six varieties of marmots
that live in the area, and what parts
them from the other five marmot species
are that they are polygamous? Unease
males, penance ... more than one mother-in-law.
They're gamey, thought by some that use a claw,
and squirrely; their defining term. There's
a cousin whose shadow's in the crosshairs.
Late winter, early spring, Yellow Bellies,
seasons bring ... the nights, Machiavelli's.

No 4: AABB ~ Ravens

Seasons bring ... the nights, Machiavelli's
Corvus corax or ravens, hints, rallies
birds of good and evil, biblically,
and birds of a feather, ominously,
fed Elijah; 1 Kings 17: ... good,
left Noah; Genesis 8: ... bad, withstood
words by De La Mare, Pollard, and purely ...,
Poe. Riposte's preface specter writes, surely ...,
"Unblackeneds spot the murder from peaks cross.
Fowl scratched a stilted appendaged, exhausts
for ends, internal haunts recuse it from
rituals such ... be marred guilt and succumb
in absentia accused of their acts.
Black king seeks a pawn, the hour ... ink affects."

No 5: ABBA ~ Spotted Owls

Black king seeks a pawn, the hour ... ink affects,
pleasures acquaint of camouflage tactics,
pleasures game on, decent for chess, black tux,
meet in a square, grassy looks seemed protects.
Hopes for one more nights ... hopes this be the night.
Former spokesrat; the lamb, sized a rat.
Latter spokesowl; Spotted, laid placemat.
Mirage sways the assured and fates the trite.
Sole cousin of Barn Owls, they're world-renown
as true owls. They're cool daredevil cliffers,
and foresters as their declining numbers
'Near Threatened' by ICUN, useless stare down
as other fauna group waits screaming crimes ...
paints and films of death grow; signs of our times.

6: ABAB ~ Asian Unicorns

Paints and films of death grow; signs of our times,
crowning rundown; the Asian Unicorns.
Rare large mammals, forest-dwelling bovines,
with nearly two feet long parallel horns.
They're found in central Vietnam and Laos,
adults reach up to thirty-three inches
up to shoulder height. Captive breeds rehouse
like schemes, lacks hope as they're on the fringes
of extinction. The poverty levels
are high in the region, local support
are tough. Technical and medical specials
aid base programs and worldwide food import.
The two hundred-twenty pound primary,
famine ... charities ... complementary.

7: AABB ~ Pangolins

Famine ... charities ... complementary.
Killers; Lions, Hyenas, Snakes, the very
highest on the list, Human traffickers,
with their ad lib, and full-on characters.
Pangolin's are anteaters resembling
armadillos but different. Trembling
leads to curling up into a ball when
they sense danger. They burrow in a den
like hole as a prelude to finding food.
Poor eye sight, lest prey's washes up mood,
Pangolins are keenly scented hunters.
Endangered according to their numbers,
for their scales are coveted, as produced
Chinese medicine, thus hope is reduced.

No 8: ABAB ~ Red Wolf

Chinese medicine, thus hope is reduced,
albeit, it doesn't apply to Red Wolf.
Canis rufus, a deep southerner roost,
with southern hospitality, aloof,
unlike others of their kind. Family
oriented, bone structure limits brain
size ... small, seventy-five pounds ... tactfully,
per agility, standard weight. Ingrain
habits, eventually, were for naught
as they became extinct in the wild, when
local ranchers had mauls on their livestock,
they were rounded-up and confined. It's been
during World War II days. They've been restored,
it's back to the wilds, for the unexplored.

No 9: ABBA ~ Pygmy Three-Toed Sloths

It's back to the wilds, for the unexplored
Panama's island, Pygmy Three-Toed Sloths.
Tree huggers, twenty hours daily, course, lots
of trees. Four of a kind, their fifth, record
as the smallest. Clocked slow, a leaf lasts one
month in its tummies till its slow slop drops.
They're six pounds and twenty inches, a pop.
Furs algae-fied hide them. Swim can be done.
Again, it resurfaces, a world-wide
dilemma, in pictures and portrait drapes
over a posh hotel table of crepes.
Concerned and unconcerned, great the divide.
In twenty-twelve, I.U.C.N., counted ...
less than eighty, now ... they're, unaccounted.

No 10: AABB ~ Red-Tailed Hawk

Less than eighty, now ... they're, unaccounted.
'Tis sad ... NEXT: the hawk hovered that founded
fresh sedges, grasslands, and deserts idyll,
God in the detail, Red-Tailed Hawk sidle,
Blitzkrieg mob by crows, females sized greater,
social-less wingers, life mono-mater,
dives one hundred twenty miles per hour,
kills owl young BOTH nesting competitor,
Prey spotted one hundred feet in the air,
Their eyesight to man, seven times finer,
Two feet, two pounds, twenty-one years lifespan,
Roadkill, hunting, and human expansion,
Diet: various birds, and small rodents,
Scrub deserts, farm fields, rainforests, woodlands.

No 11: ABAB ~ Sheep

Scrub deserts, farm fields, rainforests, woodlands,
let's question where our next breed will succeed,
by sidewinder snakes and kit fox badlands,
or jaguars, green anacondas need,
then black bears, wild boars, and, bats, or that bat,
till there's cows, pigs, goats, and then there'll be sheep.
This would be their home, and that would be that.
A time when wrists were stars, beneath they sleep.
Save for the one John called the Good Shepherd,
who's constant as the stars that compliment
their coexistence, e'er brightly peppered,
no sleep or time be mankind's argument.
John's Good Shepherd, Paul's Great Shepherd, the same,
Christ the Redeemer, Bless His Holy Name.

No 12: ABBA ~ American Bald Eagle

Christ the Redeemer, Bless His Holy Name,
Amen, to the place called Big Bear Valley,
where hails our nation's bird, fair Cali,
the American Bald Eagle ... proclaim.
Naught bald or hairy, females are bigger
than their forever mate. Soars ten thousand
feet: eyesight eight times stronger than human
and they are indeed, the largest ... raptor.
Courting, sky dancing show, Cirque du Soleil,
can't beat their score. Biggest nest, atop tall
trees, their babies are called eaglets and crawl
and fledge but not too far. Grandeur display,
winged feathers of prominence. Humankind
edge what remains their last hope, be enshrined.

COS No 13: AABB ~ Albatross

Edge what remains their last hope, be enshrined,
be the breeding atolls summoned to mind.
Albatross are one of the bird's largest.
These goliath's wingspans are the longest,
which makes them less of a landlubber when
they take more to the sea and less to land
other than breeding and nesting. They may
fly for more than a year well before they
take to land, which has been limited to
the northern Hawaiian islands, that's due
to its isolation. Their numbers put
them on the endangered list. The output
rests on less interference, to; control
by observation like fish in a bowl.

14: ABAB ~ Vaquitas

... by observation like fish in a bowl,
others too, share an equal fate that's found
in other kinds, be East to the mid-pole
California's Gulf shallows curb sound.
Vaquitas, small porpoises with large dark
rings around their eyes and dark patches on
their lips. Shore swimmers have created stark
wrath of repeated deaths net tangles done.
In 2015, CBS had placed
their numbers to be less than a hundred.
A new report lists eighteen as its based
end count. Extinction less than ten years, zed.
Spanish named "Little Cow" will be a ghost.
They'd wade at standards to be seen by most.

No 15: ABBA ~ Spoon-billed Sandpiper

They'd wade at standards to be seen by most.
The Spoon-billed Sandpiper, who shares wading,
to dying, one hundred ten, and counting.
Stretched East Asia, Russia through China ... host.
They've spoon-shaped bills to help them scoop up moss,
insects, shrimp, and worms. They are renowned for
their calls, which males fly and sing a rapport,
sounds like 'preep' and 'wheer' can stretch it across.
Human encroachment on their feeding and
breeding wetlands threatens their survival.
Predators plague their nest a revival,
two decades, numbers dropped by two thousand.
The ascension for most and few still greens,
a descension of value bows night scenes.

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