文章基本信息

标题：Ode to the Passenger Pigeon - ectopistis migratorius - Poetry - Poem
作者：James Clarke
期刊名称：Catholic New Times
印刷版ISSN：0701-0788
出版年度：2003
卷号：Oct 5, 2003
出版社：New Catholic Times Inc.

Ode to the Passenger Pigeon - ectopistis migratorius - Poetry - Poem

James Clarke

On September 1, 1914, Martha, the last passenger pigeon died in a Cincinnati zoo

   I'd like to have been there in spring when
   you flocked to the Saugeen, thicker
   than the green hair of earth,
   your sleek, pointed wings & long, slender tail
   darkening the air.

   I'd like to have heard the threshing
   of your wings passing overhead
   like a hard gale at sea or
   the deep, booming basso of Niagara.

   I wish I could have gazed
   at your iridescent feathers,
   amazed at the flickering greens & purples
   in changing light, a streamer
   of shot silk unravelling the noonday sun &

   visited your rookeries,
   a white longhouse strung for miles
   Across woods & fields of Amabel and Albemarle
   as far north as the lands of the Ojibwa,
   trees uprooted by the weight
   of your landings.

   Oh how I wish I could have been part of
   your journeyings,
   held your frail bones
   gently in my hands,
   cupped the feathered softness
   of your beating heart
   just once.

--James Clarke writes from London, Ont.