Promise to Tame and Wild

 

The manatee, the tapir,

And the platypus are

Abducted

 

The black-and-white

Ursus of China cannot

Find bamboo to eat

 

And the smaller one

Inhabiting wild Australia

Needs eucalyptus more

And more from us

 

What are we doing?

 

We make captive that

Which impulsively is

Unaware of borders

Save maybe the divine

 

We slew the passenger

Birds that only send

Messages now as

Phantoms (I’ve seen

The statue)

 

We tame, we kill—a

Time for everything

 

The brave dog who

Saved the children of

Nome (I’ve seen that

Statue, too)

 

How about time for

Leaving what’s created

 

Not by us in better

Care, surrendering

Our Eden-promise, if

Need be,

 

Rather to leave alone

What we cannot care

For with respect for

Great and small