Survival

How long have you been struggling
against the human tide of ignorance,
alone, no longer free to roam in
swamps and fields, to forage among

reeds, roots, and fruits, and roll in
cooling mud among others of your kind?
No, now you dangle in the deep, where
your tears run into milky waters and no one

is there to see your spirit break. No giggling
children splashing, no cameras flashing. No
other living being. The vibrance of a cerulean
sky mirrors nothing mortal now. Humans

have forgotten you. They thought you were
just the stuff of fairy tales, of children’s stories,
of nursery rhymes. They never knew you were
a gift of nature, more precious than they.