Lemurēs

Ghosts of gidro

(in Malagasy, you know)

a translation about creatures

called lemurs

who, by any other name

would face the same

dilemma, an extended goodbye

as, one by one, they die.

Our desire to be brave

and attempt to save

their lives is as sweet

as the tamarinds they eat

while we sleep, one by one,

through their extinction.

* * * * *

This poem was inspired by my sister's journey after she spent 8 months in Madagascar photographing and videoing lemurs as part of a greater conservation effort. But the realities are grim; their lands are disappearing as human settlements expand. Since lemurs are found only in one part of the world, and that is an island, there are no other places for them to go. They are being edged out of their natural habitats and facing extinction.

In Latin, lemurēs means "spirits of the dead."