Poem on extinct birds

My friend Ina Mondkar sent me this lovely (though sad) poem by Mary Oliver (who often writes about the natural world. The “Lord God” woodpecker refers to the Ivory-biiled woodpecker.

Look, children,
here is the shy,
flightless Dodo,
the many-colored pigeon
named the Passenger,
the Great auk,
the Eskimo curlew,
the woodpecker called
the Lord God Bird,
the….
Come, children,
hurry…
there are so many
more wonderful things
to show you
in the museum’s
dark drawers!!
(Mary Oliver)

In India, perhaps we would have to write a poem about coursers, bustards, and many others….

Cheers, Deepa.

_._,_._,_

Tags: birding, death, life, nature, poetry, wildlife