Ode To A Species In A Time Of Extinction [Poem for Dan Janzen by Clara B. Jones]

Ode To A Species* In A Time Of Extinction

for Dan Janzen

We are losing ground, Dan said.

And I responded, Yes.

Juan Santamaria's tears are falling on the rainforest

weeping for their loss

almost gone the way of jaguars

legumes and lianas missing their playful leaps

and figs finding another kind to spread their seeds

figs sweeter than mangoes could not prevent their exile

by new conquistadores born in their own country

with villas in Alajuela and partners in Miami and Austin

flying into Corcovado in Cessnas

collecting samples of timber and ore

as I once collected their fragile bodies

destined for museums in Cambridge and Albuquerque

an orange monkey, head crowned grey as soot

stalking them on horseback with campesinos

no longer rulers of Osà

their peninsula fragmented

diurnal omnivore

moving to another landscape

groups growing smaller

grasshoppers and birds' eggs once fed them

prey to eagles' talons

now lost to human predators

whose lives are bound by decades not by years.

*Saimiri oerstedii

Originally published in International Primate Protection League Newsletter, December 2015, vol. 42, #3, p 24.