In February 1966, flood waters north of Ma’an, in Jordan, brought down into the Hasa Valley near Petra a single dying specimen of the species called Struthio Camelus Syriacus -the ostrich or, as the Chinese call it, the Camel Bird of Arabia. Since no ostriches had been seen on the Arabian Peninsula since 1941, the unexpected appearance of even one specimen gave hope to some optimists that these ostriches – which once roamed freely through Arabia—were not extinct but in hiding. MORE [Aramco World Magazine]
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LONE BIRD
by
Jamie Dedes
nests raided
fellows slaughtered
webbed walk a bit slower
beaked breathing a bit harder
feathers thinning, damp
eyes clouded
drifting on life’s waters
ancient memories locked in cells as
wispy dreams, cloudy visions
unpredicted pleasures, comforts
a woody bush still green
a flourish of flower that dances
lonely shelter, secluded
some food, some water, some young
like the bush, she survives
like the flower, she dances
like the seawater that pours from the clouds
she returns from crisis
life goes on
endurance is its own reward
lone bird lives
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Photo credit ~ Ann Cervova, Public Domain Pictures.net.
The BeZine 