0414 This Other Eden, Demi-Paradise..Yeah? Poem by Michael Shepherd

Eden lives.. in the misty
mountains, jungle-thick,
of Papua New Guinea..

with its community of living things
living in what, hunger apart, seems
to be harmonious balance

awaiting, unperturbed,
Man:

adorable, begging to be cloned,
kangaroos that climb trees
(it almost ranks as
showing off at Nature's
Olympic Games) : mammals
that lay eggs as easily as
a chicken crosses the road
to take a drink of milk;

and just the merest touch
of more obvious Darwinian competition by
the lyre-bird which builds
an ostentatious house fit for a honeymoon
to tempt a girl who knows what's what;

or is this
the last place on earth
where the survivors of
Nature's ruthlessness might be safe
amid the thick, tall tress,
from crunching jaws
of dinosaurs,
the stabbing dives and crack-bills
of pterodactyls?

would it surprise you if they found
upon the highest peak, Noah's Ark
with a list writ by some heavenly hand
full of crossings-off?


but why am I so moved
by smiles and tears - then
joy and fears -
to read that all these creatures
have not learnt
to fear Man?