SATAO

Before you read this poem, kindly read the story below on the death of Satao. I am griefing!

The Story on the Death of Satao



Deeply grieved, my heart bleeds;
Moved, shocked, tears well my eyes
I imagine how you met your death--
They came, and with cruelty in their breasts
They felled you, Satao.
All for a price of tusks? All for the price of ivory? Of trinkets?
Had they stopped for a moment and be held in awe of your majesty
Had they watched, even briefly, your spleandour
Had they had forewarning of our broken hearts
May be they might have spared you, Satao.
But those heartless men, lacking in finesse,
Savagely killed you.
Sometimes I wonder to myself
What I will tell my children, many years from now,
All elephants gone. Killed. Killed. *Tears*
With your cool spirit, Satao, did you have to die this cruelly?
All for a price of tusks? All for the price of ivory?
Can they place a price tag of your worth?
Can they measure the size of the savannah and tell me how much
A footprint of an elephant costs? Can they?
Can they construct a sunset with an elephant in an ecosystem? Can they?
What tomfoolery! What effrontery I countenance!
Man, go kill your lot, leave the animal kingdom alone?
Go kill yourselves, rob your lot's teeth, steal their hair
But I say, leave our animals alone!
Leave our animals alone, you damned creature!
Go gallop to your ruination, you heartless pavements!
Go to your industries and manufacture your dummy ivories
Go kill your lot, go thieving elsewhere, go shedding blood elsewhere
We mourn Satao,
He never started fights, he never picked quarrel with anyone
He concerned himself with his business at Tsavo
He never stole somebody's land
He never slept with anyone's wife
He broke no law
He was kind to strangers who pried on his privacy
Yet Satao was killed. Gruesomely killed.
They say that when poachers pounced on him
Brandishing pangas and blunt weapons
They say Satao let out one final cry
A muffled cry of wild consternation
Something like, 'Spare my life, what wrong
Have I done to face death this cruel!'
Satao, O the most humble Satao,
Pleaded with them, his tusks spread out in supplication,
Told them, 'Friends, what wrong have I done? I can correct my ways
If to perdition you are keen to send me to'
Satao's body was bestraddled on the ground
In earnest plea for mercy.
Satao cried and cried and cried.
"Spare me! Spare me, brothers!"
Not even the hoarse beseeching softened their hearts.
In total surrender, with tusks in supplication,
Arms raised the pangas and when they descended
To Satao's tusks they fell...
Chop! Chop! Chop!
Like a civilian in total surrender, Satao hoped,
Having an inkling of the fairness of man in warfare,
Yet no rules of war fairness did Satao get
Chop! Chop! Chop!
Hear Satao gasping for breath, his blood flowing on the savannah
See Satao, see him now, See his legs kicking,
See Satao now, his eyes pained by the betrayal
See Satao, see his energy ooze away, see his essence leaving,
See Satao's tail lifting up in the air in such pain...
See Satao's padded feet pressing against the savannah
Feel Satao's heart now, feel his broken heart, feel his sadness
Hear Satao breathing out his last.. hear his last cry pierce the savannah
They say that that day Satao died
Baby elephants came at night and held a vigil
That night, as Poor Satao's face lay defaced,
They say a small rush of wind circled around him
Singing an elegy to him.
That night, there was silence in the savannah
Satao lay dead.
That morning he had met with his fellow friends
And had planned to meet at their favourite watering hole
But here, in a cold night in Tsavo,
Satao lay dead
Animals wondered what lofty hatred and revenge
Was exacted on Satao
But of what benefit were answers to these questions?
Satao was no more.
Friendly and majestic Satao lay dead.
Not far away from his home (because he preferred keeping his space)
You might not believe this, Satao was killed
At his home, far away from vehicles, far away from thugs, far away
From disease and poverty.
Killed, not by his own, but by aliens!
Such is death! Such mystery!
~Poem by Salem Lorot
‪#‎Satao‬ ‪#‎KWS‬ ‪#‎SaveOurElephants‬ ‪#‎Tsavo‬