Hosanna

I heard on the radio yesterday

That the Tasmanian Devil

(Not the whirling dervish on TV

But the actual animal from Tasmania)

Is being wiped out by a blood-born virus

That causes cancer.

One of the symptoms of the disease

Is horrible, disfiguring facial lesions.

Within five months the animal is dead.

Hosanna in the highest.

I heard at a lecture last month

That the bat population of the Northeast

Is being wiped out by a mysterious disease

That is being called white nose

Because of the white patches that develop

On the animal’s nose.

In a manner that is not yet understood

The bats are wakened from hibernation

And fly out of their caves looking for food.

But in midwinter there are no mosquitoes.

We were shown video of bats flapping weakly

As they lay on the snow, starving.

Hosanna in the highest.

I read in the paper that in Darfur

Up to 400,000 people have died since February 2003.

More than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes 

More than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Chad 

As many as 1 million civilians could die in Darfur

From lack of food and from disease within coming months.

Eighty percent of the children under five years old

Are suffering from severe malnutrition.

Many children are dying each day.

Humanitarian aid organizations have access

To only twenty percent of those affected.

Hosanna in the highest.