Pity the Woolly Mammoth

Pity the Woolly Mammoth

                                                         
                     
                                                        Barra de Navidad., December 30, 2008


Whether the earth is warming is much in doubt;

Some say cooling; others, volatile.

In any case, the economy's current state

Rules out significant action--at least for a while.


Meanwhile, the genome of the Woolly Mammoth

Will soon be mapped in its entirety;

And success in the quest for the very source of life

Is imminent at the University,


Claim students of archaic atmospheres,

Hypothesizers of primeval soups

Which they concoct in commercially subsidized labs

Guarded by agencies staffed by former troops.


Genetic engineers will reproduce

Flora and fauna designed to embellish the view

At "Heavenly Body" resorts, on new-found planets,

Catering to the discerning well-to-do.


One day, of course, the shuttle will fail to arrive,

Triggering the age-old struggle to survive;

And the Woolly Mammoth, hunted by desperate men,

Can expect to go extinct all over again.