Snow Leopards

There are 5000 Snow Leopards
Left in the wild
In the high, barren mountains
Of Asia
Where humans can’t
Conveniently shoot them

This most beautiful cat
The most endangered
Loved so much
That four men
Filmed the Snow Leopards for four years
Summer and winter
sometimes using thirty special
camera traps
in addition to their own
long-lensed efforts
(one almost died at 15000 feet)

Claudia and I sat at home
Last evening
In our recliners
And watched Snow Leopards
Mark territory
Hunt
Mate
And survive
Thanks to those four men
And a grant from National Geographic

When the show was over
I loved the Snow Leopards
And the men who filmed them
For caring so much for
Something so beautiful
So endangered
So wild

It’s easy
To push away the thought
That Snow Leopards kill
Other wild but not so beautiful
Animals to survive

Lord,
Human animals
Are not an endangered species
Yet
Must some of us become endangered
To be loved
Valued for our beauty
Our wild minds

Who would Jesus bomb?

ah
8/07