Last week’s poem was dedicated to the three elephant calves from Zimbabwe that escaped from making
the heartbreaking journey to China.
This week’s poem is dedicated to the 24 precious Zimbabwean elephant calves that have been forced to live out their lives
thousands of miles from where they belong.
Boxed and crated…elephant calves sway and yearn
A terrifying journey….never to return
Down cast eyes…lonely heart beats
Cold metal bars…their jungle of concrete
Iridescent tears…like falling rain
A hollow echo……of captivity and pain
Elephant calves with their soft weary treads
Their coats full of creases and their noble heads
Yearning for family and the freedom to roam
Dusty dreams of Africa and Hwange……their home
WHERE
Birds sing from the leaf laden canopy of trees
Flaxen dust sprinkled like spun gold on the leaves
African sun spreads it’s warm coppery glow
A myriad of stars stare in wonder….nature’s night show
WHERE
The wild sweet decay of buffalo dung carries on the breeze
AND
Silence shredding cicadas flirt and tease
WHERE
Wispy clouds chase shooting stars
AND
The African full moon beams from afar
THEIR RIGHT TO SEE
Golden sunrises and sunsets like perfect bookends for each day
THEIR RIGHTS TO FREEDOM
Torn away
With heavy hearts…their young trunks reaching up high
Seeking the horizon where earth drifts into sky
Elephant calves that should be surrounded by family and nature’s wild African splendour
Incarcerated for Life……
A tragic surrender.
We train those who are wildlife’s first line of defense against poachers and poaching syndicates.
During our training operations one group of rangers arrested 81 poachers in 12 days.