After Television
       

I wonder continually about that time when we
Broke off from the other animals. What were we
Thinking, if anything? Were we trying to toss
All our aunts, uncles, and cousins into the
Dumpster in one grand renunciation? I wouldn't
Be surprised. And was that the moment when
Our centuries of egomania began? Oh, my dears,
The Bengal tiger, the biggest cat in the world,
Who was our friend and protector on the plain,
In the tall grass and under the squirmy trees,
Is now down to a population of only 400.
Where did all the others go? Of course we know.
We gave the command that drove them out. And then
So many, many thousands and thousands of other
Wonderful beings, whose minds and hearts we knew
In our earliest perceptions, knew and loved.
That knowledge and love tinge our thought
Today, and fill us with this inexhaustible sadness
Which we all acknowledge in our mumbling days
And which causes us to nod our heads slowly
And stupidly when moonlight shines on the water.

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Copyright © 2012 Hayden Carruth All rights reserved
from >Last Poems
>Copper Canyon Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission