TUSK & HORN

TUSK & HORN

It’s a beautiful thing, the old man said,

As the trinket caught the light

The delicacy of the carving

Makes it such a delight

The hours of careful craftsmanship

Such painstaking work takes hours

Admire the detail of the faces

The beauty of these fine flowers

Not such a beautiful thing, I said

Please get this into your head

I pity the noble creature

That had to wind up dead

I know you must feed your family

Without your work they all might starve

But there has to be a better way

If it’s ivory tusks you carve

A beautiful night you’ll have, she said

Offering up the powdered dust

Take this and you’ll be up all night

With the object of your lust

Not to mention other benefits

For the fever, or the gout

So many medicinal properties

Of that there is no doubt

Not such a beautiful night, I said

If there’s such a price to pay

That one more innocent creature

Doesn’t see another day

Your medical claims are nonsense

They wouldn’t pass any test

Of all the places that horn could be

On a rhino’s nose is best

The slaughtering of rhino

Just for one small part

Whilst the butchering of elephants

It really breaks my heart

Hunting species to extinction -

The worst side of humanity

It’s time we stood together

To stop this bloody insanity

Martin A W Holmes, September 2016