A Plea

To all the creatures
yet unknown,
moving under miles of ice,
inching through slippery caves,
crouching in forests on moonless nights:
Live on.
Let no one find a trace.
Keep to the dark side of mountains,
swim where no man can follow,
burrow as deep as you can.
Stay where we don’t belong.

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Jean Ryan

Jean Ryan, a native Vermonter, lives in Lillian, Alabama. Her stories and essays have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. She has also published a novel, LOST SISTER. Her short story collections, SURVIVAL SKILLS and LOVERS AND LONERS, are available online. STRANGE COMPANY, a collection of short nature essays, is available in paperback as well as digital and audio editions.

4 thoughts on “A Plea

  1. Jean, I like this. It’s powerful but also sobering…Will we ever learn
    enough to be with all the creatures without causing them harm?  Or will
    they have to hide until we humans are gone and some better humans come? 
    Our human species is a failed experiment.  I think perhaps science made
    an error when it somehow decided homo sapiens would be the chosen
    species. Just maybe Neanderthal was the way to go.  About 2% of our DNA
    is Neanderthal.  Perhaps if it had been more, we would have been better….

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