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Karel Reus: June 2023 A lament for the silencing of the bush.

In response to the Bards topic for June 2023: "Songbird"


I venture out
into the bush, as is my wont —
with water bottle, vegan picnic lunch,
a big hat and a well-thumbed copy of
What Bird Was That?[1]

I hope
to catch a glimpse
of the fabled
Southern Pied Yellow-banded Grub-chucker—
wot was in these parts—once.


Will I, instead
come across a remnant sparrow
or fancy that I hear a distant carol
from a magpie
of blessed memory?

My present
ornithological ramblings
are marked by absences and memories—
and regrets that I and my kind have stuffed up—
comprehensively.

What noisome chirping
will greet the rambles of
my descendants,
or will a robot’s artifice
do the honours from their ‘phones?

Extinction is so permanent
and yet, one hopes, this growing silence
presages new beginnings—maybe…
The big question is whether
I and my lot will be around to hear it.

The “Good Book” says:
“See, I am making all things new!”[2]
(Yeah!!—Right!!)—
while Gaia[3] whispers from the wings
“Get out of my way—I have work to do”

[1] Parody. See Neville W. Cayley’s What Bird is That?

[2] Revelation 21:5

[3] See: James Lovelock: Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.

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