By Craig Carpenter Downer, P.O. Box 456, Minden, NV 89423. ccdowner@aol.com. 775-901-2094.Poem conceived Saturday July 22, 2023 at 3:33 PM – 4:44 PM. Revised & typed July 23-24, 2023
On May 11th, 2023, right about dawn,
I had a wonderful dream,
Or, better yet, a splendid vision —
Truly a joyous occasion!
For like two angels appeared to me —
Two beautiful Mountain, or Andean, Tapirs —
— So splendidly!
Now adeptly fastened were they
Upon a steep, cloud-forested slope,
They stood In a place
where I had tracked them
Relentlessly for years.
The plants, the birds, the bees, et cetera,
Seemed all so familiar, yet enhanced,
Like some special Andean branch
Of Heaven laden with delicate orchids
And festooned with jewel-like hummingbirds
Darting so deftly around.
–Aye! ‘t was a bright mid-morning
Full of a unique — glorious sunshine!
For years in my field studies,
I was used to have them scamper off
Whenever — binocular and radio-tracker in hand —
I would draw nigh.
But this vision time was different.
For now they sought me out,
Did me espy — overjoyed
To hear and see —
In many ways perceive me.
And I more fully sensed and perceived them
Within some higher, vitalized dimension.
So robust and alive were they —
Then a remarkable happening:
Like a celestial duet
Standing side-by-side,
In a flash, they extended
Their prehensile proboscises in tandem.
Amazingly, these versatile organs became,
Elongated, coppery-colored, burnished flutes
That all of a sudden they sonorously sounded out
A most mesmerizing, mellifluous, heartfelt rendition
Of Beethoven’s Wonderful Ode to Joy!
Miraculously, this communicated
Their pure and special love.
That powerfully enveloped me!
— A supreme gift was this!
Verily It uplifted me
To Heaven’s Tapir Branch.
In this special Heaven I was welcome —
An honored member and given a surprise.
For after the joyous Beethoven song
They performed a second wonderful tune
And with vigorous, montane flare!
Astounded was I that
This exquisite creation summed up
Long eons of living in the Andes here –aqui!.
This happening consciously
United me with them —
Showed me that In Spirit
We are all One …
However mysteriously we come
To realize this most remarkable fact of life.
Upon retrospect I felt
This wonderful gift
Had something to do
With all those many
long, laboriously striving years
During which my Andean companions and I
Had worked both to understand
And to Save these great
Endangered wonders
In their fantastic Andean home
And to save their natural home as well:
In fact a Globally life-preserving one —
And headwaters of Mighty Amazon!
These woolly tapirs’
Natural palaces are composed
Of cloud forests and paramos,
A type of moorland above the trees,
And extend clear up to Volcan Sangay’s
Snowy, glistening white glaciers.
My trusty Andean companions and I
Bravely summitted 17,300-foot Sangay
On December 6th, 1991 Ano Domini.
Crown jewel of Parque Nacional
Sangay is this volcan,
Helping make it a World Heritage Site.
… Before I close, I have this to say:
From the two tapirs of my vision,
Arose two most vivid melodies.
And just the thought of these
Is enough to uplift me at any time.
Their very transcendent existence
Carries me up and away
Unto their own
Special branch of Heaven.
… The upshot of this precious vision
Is their Special Love and this Love’s Power.
It inflamed my own heart too;
And I believe it can transform
The whole, wide world
Both for this precious
Tapir pair’s own sake
And for all their Sangay family,
As well as for all their kind.
… And like unto this blessed vision
To me right now
There seems no greater one.
Praise God! I say, Praise God! Amen!
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