
Tim Burroughs
For the memory of a lost song
For David Attenborough
We should listen hard
For the last song
Of a species
Of a bird
Nearly nightingale
Of a mammal
Nearly whale
We should listen hard
For we do not want their silence
The loneliness that would entail
Silent woodland would be an eerie world
An expression of a love we could not hold
A love so old it held us in its arms
When we were another animal
Alone, vulnerable and cold
Without a song
To keep it’s territory
Attract a mate
Just like our fellows
Who we presume to own
Push towards a threshold
That only holds the silence
Alone and so cold