Toucan's Lament(kc)

Towering canopies

Above echoing the toucan’s sad hymn

A song of solitude

A paean to its world’s passing

Empty branches

Once the verdant gymnasium

Filled with chattering chimpanzees

Now stilled in anticipation

Of impending change

Wind breathed

Across the deserted limbs

A desolate discordance

Accompanying the wailing toucan

A counterpoint

Accenting its lonely lament

Background oratorio

To the oppressive near-silence

Is taut with the unsung chorales

Of the disappearing fauna

Their cries forever stilled

Their offspring unborn

Their time now passed

Sotto voce the wind

Permeates the oncoming wasteland

With its dirge

Its beat

Giving time to the leaves

As they dance in St Vitus’ arms

A waltz

For this wake

Air once fragrant

With a heady musk

Of moss, mold, and steaming humus

Is now the fecund, stagnant breath

From the mouth of this rotting copse

Forlorn the funeral

Where there is no one

To give the eulogy

To sing the hosannas

To grieve the passing