R.I.P. Another Cecil

Zimbabwe – last name on the list

Of Nations - harsh, dry and sun-kissed

Mecca of hunters and big game

Once had Rhodesia as its name.

 

(From Cecil Rhodes*, a pioneer

Whose deeds the Old Queen did revere),

On major trade routes lies, through hills

Where 16 tongues mean thrills and spills!

 

Independent now, it stands alone

 A savannah land where lions roam

With many dramatic natural features

A flight away from Southern beaches.

 

But politics aside, we read

A brand-new tale of death and greed

Wilful hunter, careful tread

And Cecil, the noble lion, lies dead...

(c) Poet in the woods 2015

* Cecil Rhodes, explorer (1853 - 1902)

historical note: Cecil the lion was killed by Walter Palmer, an American dentist and big-game hunter. The killing occurred in July 2015 in Zimbabwe. Cecil was lured out of Hwange National Park with an elephant carcass and wounded with an arrow by Palmer. He was then tracked and killed the next morning with a compound bow.