Her virtue was her moral strength
\nHer integrity and grace
\nDr Leakey realised how she was on his case
\nA believer in her ethic
\nHe hired her and she found
\nA lifetime for her in Rwanda
\nRight there on the ground<\/p>\n
Karisoke it would be her camp
\nHer place where she
\nCould settle down and work away
\nIt became her liberty
\nMT Karasimbi loomed ahead
\nMT Visoke behind
\nHence the camps name
\nReally part of how she was
\nAnd was always on her mind<\/p>\n
10,000 feet close to the clouds
\nA lot of mist about
\nWet and cold inhospitable
\nBut she was never in any doubt
\nUp here in Virunga and the Volcanoes
\nNational Park
\nWith families of Gorilla’s
\nDian made her mark<\/p>\n
She had a crusading spirit
\nAnd was humble to the cause
\nThe Gorillas were to bear her life
\nAnd seldom would she pause
\nClearly on a time lock of respectability
\nWith a plethora of good points
\nFeeling very free<\/p>\n
Away from all the controlling forces
\nInto the kingdom of the green
\nAmongst the wonderful silver backs
\nWhere few men would have been
\nEverywhere dense foliage
\nA boundless kind of place
\nAnd to think she had been up here alone
\nLost without a trace<\/p>\n
National Geographic asked Bob Campbell to
\nGo and film with Dian
\nSomething he wanted to do
\nAnd when he got there
\nHe was housed in a tent away from camp
\nJust a couple of old blankets
\nIt was cold and it was damp
\nAnd Dian was so short tempered
\nBelligerent in fact
\nAnd he clearly wasn’t happy
\nAnd likewise did react<\/p>\n
Around that time Cologne Had
\nWanted two Gorillas for their zoo
\nAnd Dian set to look after them
\nCoca and Pukka who
\nWent on long walks together
\nAnd Bob he joined them too
\nAnd got some splendid footage
\nOf the famous two<\/p>\n
Whilst this was going on
\nDian hoped to save them, she
\nWas trying to prevent them being shipped
\nFor she knew they’d be
\nAnd suffer, if they were shipped
\nThe babies would and they
\nGot permission to ship them
\nAnd they were shipped away<\/p>\n
She was so attached to them
\nAnd sad to see them go
\nLong walks with her dog Cindy
\nThe little souls did know
\nThey played with her and with her dog
\nIn a very special way
\nThey were all getting acclimatised
\nTo one another’s day
\nDian really took it badly
\nShe didn’t understand
\nWhy they couldn’t stay with her
\nBut that was how it was
\nAnd within 9’years
\nThey both were dead
\nCaptivity because
\nWild Gorillas love where they
\nCome from and just live out each day<\/p>\n
Coca and dear Pukka were the first
\nReal film he got
\nBob found the Emerald forest
\nHeavenly it was not
\nHe was wet and cold
\nAnd felt unfriended
\nFor a while anyway
\nUntil he got to accompany Dian
\nIn an effort to wend his way<\/p>\n
Neither of them were scientists
\nBut they had a job to do
\nAnd Bob decided he wanted to take
\nPictures of them too
\nWhat he could do to merge in so he got down
\nOn all fours
\nAnd the Gorillas they were good with that
\nSeemingly a cause
\nTo also be more friendly
\nAnd so it went from there
\nEach learning about each other
\nEach becoming more aware
\nA sort of mutual respect developed
\nAnd a romance of sorts
\nBetween Dian and Bob who was always
\nReally in her thoughts<\/p>\n
But he was unsure about this
\nFor he had a wife and she
\nWas back home doing her thing
\nIn Nairobi
\nBut Dian was clearly drawn to him
\nAnd he was drawn to her
\nAnd for while they became lovers
\nAnd at that time clearly were<\/p>\n
Both developing greatly
\nIn their spirit with each other
\nThere was a heightened kinship
\nWith the apes too and the other
\nRelationship with each other blossomed
\nQuite a lot
\nLife seemed hunky dory
\nBut somehow it was not<\/p>\n
Good for Bob and he was asked to
\nLeave and go elsewhere
\nAnd Dian found out about this
\nAnd showed him her despair
\nIn the end bob never ever went back
\nFor he knew
\nThat we would not be welcomed
\nThat indeed it had all fell through<\/p>\n
“Digit” one of the gorillas that Bob
\nNamed then was killed
\nAnd a lot of poacher activity
\nAnd blood was sadly spilled
\nAnd Dian clearly under fire
\nBut alone had told Bob she
\nWas suffering a lot now
\nFrom the continued infamy
\nJ
\nshe took them on single handedly
\nFor the gorillas were her life
\nShe couldn’t stand to see them hurt
\nAnd suffer all this strife<\/p>\n
The malevolence was everywhere
\nSpitefulness was rife
\nWere they having a go at her
\nOf just creating strife
\nIt clearly began to get to her
\nAnd one night as we have heard
\nShe was hacked to death in her own home
\nThats how her death occurred<\/p>\n
She could never come to terms
\nWith poaching, ever
\nBushmeat and the like beyond her, she
\nLoved the many gorillas that she encountered
\nBut killing them for meat she couldn’t see<\/p>\n
Recently
\none Harambe in the Cinninati zoo
\nWas gunned down by the zoo itself
\nFor fear what it would do
\nTo a small boy that had fallen
\nInto its moat and it was mthought
\nThe gorilla might just kill the child
\nSo time in fact was bought
\nAnd a bullet tore into his flesh
\nWhich wasn’t what we thought<\/p>\n
And now there is an inquest
\nOn social media where
\nPeople blame the parents the zoo
\nAnd both don’t care
\nabout each other
\nSadly a complete tragedy
\nAnd another captive Gorilla
\nDies Prematurely<\/p>\n
So many people sadly
\nFail to see it, they
\nWild animals are important
\nWe have to save their day
\nLeave them where they all were put
\nNot bring them into zoo’s
\nCorporate profit making business
\nIt isn’t the best news
\nMishaps they will happen
\nAs has happened here
\nAnd as soon as a that boy entered that place
\nThe gorilla was dead
\nThe fear
\nIs always for the child
\nAnd the animals will be
\nShot and killed for they have no rights
\nAnd the majority agree <\/p>\n
Dian gave her life for them
\nShe truthfully knew she
\nHad to try to defend them
\nFor she knew and she could see
\nIn essence they had little hope
\nWith the glass and concrete mob
\nWho would shoot them on a heartbeat
\nTheir precious lives would rob<\/p>\n
And then have all the answers
\nIts someone else’s life
\nThen of course they know it all
\nHow to talk up strife<\/p>\n
As we can see at present
\nThe arm chair mob no all
\nBut you have to live among them
\nYou have to let them rule
\nYour life by sharing their life
\nTo realise their pain
\nTo appreciate their torment
\nTo even hope to gain<\/p>\n
Perhaps a smidgeon of insight
\nPerhaps an ounce of care
\nYou have to live among them
\nFor their beauty is so rare
\nBut they will share it with you
\nIf you share yours with them
\nAnd DIan she was one fine soul
\nWho became their human gem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Her virtue was her moral strength Her integrity and grace Dr Leakey realised how she was on his case A believer in her ethic He hired her and she found A lifetime for her in Rwanda Right there on the … Continue reading