“Big boy” and the birth of CLZ in his honour

There was something about him
Apart from his great stature
He took it on himself to be the one
The guru and the mentor
For a number of the other males
He possessed a status
That was second to none

Huge great tusks
A great head on his shoulders
Cushioned feet and gentle in a way
In the great spirit of Africa
The Zambezi valley
Where elephants and men
Share much lets say

Fear and mistrust
Were the honest negatives
But not so “big boy”
He appeared to be
Ably tasked with honour
And commitment
To what he saw as
His great mystery

He had a noble manner
A calming attitude
He inluenced the others
And by us he was viewed
As somewhat of a leader
Though the matriarch was there
But he was very friendly
And his aura he did share

His eyes were so expressive
You could almost feel his heart
His mood his consternation
Awesome from the start
And all of us could feel it
It was a remarkable skill
He was able to communicate
And though very big
Life was still

When “big boy”was around us
He was like one of the crowd
Because basically he came each day
His miracles he showered
Over us and we felt them
He got to us and we
Loved him as a special friend
And we admiringly

Went about our business
The place was purest peace
Serenity it was heavenly
You could just release
The woes as such of city life
And realise that there
Is beauty in the wildness
If everyone can share

Watching the schooling process
The teaching of respect
The bachelor groups were learning
They love they play they elect
Their teachers and their best of friends
And everyday they learn
To love to play to fight to grieve
And to show concern

Mostly men keep their distance
Each frightened of one another
Elephants have their ivory tusks
And they eat a lot the other
Problem is they only manage
To digest 40 per cent
And so they are always eating
And that is their intent

Anyway so villagers grow crops
For themselves to eat
And elephants will come at night
And rapidly delete
The grain stores with their hunger
And thus disputes occur
And with poachers in the vicinity
Anger it can stir

Along the great Zambesi
Life’s abundance shines
Stillness and the natural order
Prevail along the lines
Of Nature and the equilibrium
That one soon can see
Each species does its own thing
They are constant and just free

Man really is the problem
He hasnt learned to share
And doesnt really retain the respect
For animals already there
All going about their business
Life and death and more
The union of naturalness
And the great green law

In November when the rains come
The Poachers they come too
A single bullet can end a life
That statement so true
And in 1996 we lost our wondrous friend
Gunned down by the piaching scum
And the ripples that did send

Through us all for “big boy”
It Broke our heart to know
This phenomenon we would never see again
And Its still a blow
Thinking sbout him, wondering
How his aura will permeate the jungle
And we feel him with us still

It was then that we decided
To create a team where we
Would protect all of the animals
A kind of sanctuary
He had been a great bridge builder
With a bounden duty to
Give us his allegiances
Which actually Rang true

And so really in his honour
the CLZ became
A force to be reckoned with
His legacy our claim
Throughout the year
We would be there
To maintain the secret world
In which the tribes of AFRICA
And all of us were hurled

The wheels of life
The old the young
Lifes exhuberance
It Had rung
the bells of sweet eternity
The distant rumbles certainly
Everything is intertwined
And interdependent
And we find

We are honour bound
To see it through
To recall our friend
“Big boy” he did woo
Us all into his field of grace
And each Bull we see
We make out HIS face

Untarnished unsullied
A chivalrous knight
Who captured souls
But the poachers spite
Ended his reign
On this mortal coil
For his ivory tusks
Brought us all turmoil

But his wondrous stature
Is in our mind
Where The single bullet
Will never find
A place our thoughts
Will always be
Of “big boy”
Throughout eternity.