Eden lives.. in the misty <br />mountains, jungle-thick, <br />of Papua New Guinea.. <br /> <br />with its community of living things <br />living in what, hunger apart, seems <br />to be harmonious balance <br /> <br />awaiting, unperturbed, <br />Man: <br /> <br />adorable, begging to be cloned, <br />kangaroos that climb trees <br />(it almost ranks as <br />showing off at Nature's <br />Olympic Games) : mammals <br />that lay eggs as easily as <br />a chicken crosses the road <br />to take a drink of milk; <br /> <br />and just the merest touch <br />of more obvious Darwinian competition by <br />the lyre-bird which builds <br />an ostentatious house fit for a honeymoon <br />to tempt a girl who knows what's what; <br /> <br />or is this <br />the last place on earth <br />where the survivors of <br />Nature's ruthlessness might be safe <br />amid the thick, tall tress, <br />from crunching jaws <br />of dinosaurs, <br />the stabbing dives and crack-bills <br />of pterodactyls? <br /> <br />would it surprise you if they found <br />upon the highest peak, Noah's Ark <br />with a list writ by some heavenly hand <br />full of crossings-off? <br /> <br /> <br />but why am I so moved <br />by smiles and tears - then <br />joy and fears - <br />to read that all these creatures <br />have not learnt <br />to fear Man?<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0414-this-other-eden-demi-paradise-yeah/
