R.I. P. Lonesome George

This picture comes from www.mongabay.com

Tortoises—
Ever dignified and purposeful.
Lonesome George, the last of his kind.

A tortoise knows his place in the world.

His life has meaning, a meaning
which has existed since pre-history.
The tortoise endures; he beats the hare.

Centenarian Lonesome George,

the last of the La Pinta Galapagos species,
a giant tortoise from a tiny island off Ecuador,
an ambassador against extinction.

George proves that extinction

isn’t just an abstraction;
it’s a real peril for many biota
within a few generations.

 In “The Way to Rainy Mountain”, author N. Scott Momaday writes, “Tortoises crawl about on red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time.”  Tortoises stir a sense of wonder in me.

(Click the link to the book to learn more.)


© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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