zaglossus attenboroughi
‘a single echidna specimen collected in 1961… near the top of Mount Rara, in the Cyclops Mountains of Northern Dutch New Guinea [now Indonesia] was named in recognition of Attenborough’s contribution to increased public appreciation of New Guinean flora and fauna through his documentary work…’ – Wikipedia
A world from there but roughly then, I too
was the only one they ever found. Domain,
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,
Genus, Species, tick tick tick my tribes
but only one of me. Although I don’t
become a spiny ball when I feel threatened,
do I, no, don’t say. And though I’m not
nocturnal in the way they mean, outside
it’s dark when I do this and I mean always.
Also I’ve gone by now, that’s quite echidna.
And though I’ve not been hunted down and killed
to share with enemies as a peace-offering,
there is still time. Only last year they caught us
both on film: it scuttling through the forest
on a trail camera, me in an early round
of University Challenge: ‘Worcester, Maxwell!’
I wished my dad could see me. One of my friends
from the Garden City said I’d finally made it.
I haven’t changed the subject: television
named this little creature. Mind you,
there’s no day of your life you can’t make better
by imagining the gentle voice of David
whispering as you pass: wholly attentive,
curious, wise, delighting in your foibles,
and by his wonder lifting your poor self
into the lists of the marvellous.
