Version 2
At the American Museum of Natural History
Stuffed and saddled, a baby brontosaurus
was standing lifelike in the Reptile Hall:
Lonesome George, a Pinta Island tortoise,
last of his kind. His story was on the wall.
How could he know a thousand generations
of ancestors had put their hope in him?
His species’ instinct for its preservation
was foiled by sailors or climatic whim.
I thought of
Beowulf and the last survivor
placing his people’s treasure in the earth,
of Uncas and Ishi, fruitlessly alive, or
waiting for death’s mockery of their birth.
More than a century George lived alone.
Now, taxidermied, he’s been turned to stone.
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Edits:
S1L1: Lifelike, stuffed, a baby brontosaurus > Stuffed and saddled, a baby brontosaurus
S1L2: Saddled for riding stood in the Reptile Hall: > was standing lifelike in the Reptile Hall:
S1L4: last of his kind, his story on the wall. > last of his kind. His story was on the wall.
Version 1
At the American Museum of Natural History
The blue whale and T. rex stretched out before us,
and something stranger in the Reptile Hall.
It looked like a stuffed baby brontosaurus
saddled for riding, its story on the wall.
This was Lonesome George, the last of his kind,
a Pinta Island tortoise, thought to have been
extinct. An endling, he had been confined
for decades, living a century without kin.
He didn’t know the thousandth generation
of ancestors would dwindle down to him.
His species’ instinct for its preservation
was foiled by humans or some Darwinian whim.
I thought of
Beowulf and the last survivor
placing his people’s treasure in the earth,
of Uncas and Ishi, fruitlessly alive, or
waiting for death’s mockery of their birth.
————————
Edits:
S1L1: The blue whale and T. rex stretched out before me, >The blue whale and T. rex stretched out before us.
S1L3: It looked like a stuffed, baby brontosaurus > It looked like a stuffed baby brontosaurus
S2L4: for decades. He’d lived a century without kin. > for decades, living a century without kin.
S3L4: was thwarted by chance or some Darwinian whim. > was foiled by hunters or some Darwinian whim. > was foiled by humans or some Darwinian whim.