Tailwind: Poems by a Teenage Naturalist

Pictures

Flaky wafers of black and white
Hung on a wall, under dim light.
Stained yellows and oranges; darkened with age.
The only true chronicles of our unnatural rage
Were you a bird, who once ruled the skies?
Or a wolf filling the evening with your mournful cries?
In the depths of the ocean, did you light up the dark?
No matter your place, you made your mark.
Did you prowl by day, or rule at night?
Did you roam with us humans, or stay out of sight?
Some tales resonate with us like a religion,
Such as the tale of the passenger pigeon.

And then there's the ones that we'll never know.
Never discovered before they were forced to go.
Your eyes were once so full of life
Until you were subjected to humanity's strife
As your memories lie, shrouded in pain
Now only pictures will ever remain.