needless pain they bear
individual animals figure things out
and their small group learns
a new method of dealing
with the world’s challenges
i.e., poking into a ant hole with a stick
whale belly-flopping high on a beach
to go after prey
but none yet sees a house
as shelter from inclement weather
they stand or huddle naked to rain
snow, sleet, hail when penguin
fathers could push snow together
to build a wall if not a roof rather
than use each other’s bodies
at the expense of his life
or osprey could angle sticks to create
a semi-cave in raw nest rather than
leave head and shoulders bare
to the storm
could we teach them? or would we
be leading them into our own
withered separation from nature?