by Julia Griffin

“Sri Lanka to hold state funeral for beloved sacred elephant Raja”
—The Guardian

Call for the langurs and the leopards all;
Let jungle fowl process with toque macaques;
Sing, hornbills, for great Raja’s funeral.

This sacred creature, more than ten feet tall,
Could bear what must have broken others’ backs:
Call for the langurs and the leopards all,

And let them mourn for mortal grandeur’s fall.
Behold, the great heart of the jungle cracks!
Sing, hornbills, for great Raja’s funeral.

While humans lay their long, sepulchral pall
Upon his bier, let deep-voiced leatherbacks
Call for the langurs and the leopards all:

The captive king’s delivered from his stall;
Follow the buffaloes’ tremendous tracks;
Sing, hornbills, for great Raja’s funeral.

Clamour and bellow, screech and howl and squawl;
Raja is free, that mighty battle-axe!
Call for the langurs and the leopards all;
Sing, hornbills, for great Raja’s funeral.