The caregiver, the human,

is always in a costume,

a sort of beekeeper’s suit, all white,

covering everything, including the face,

especially the face, the eyes,

they attract so much, give away

so much.

 

The young cranes will follow anything

two-legged, will pick up any bad habit, 

human gesture, way of being,

and be lost to their own kind.

 

So we hide ourselves among them,

wade, bend, point to food

(this arm a neck, this hand a beak perhaps),

flap, stretch, cry out in their recorded voice,

teach by sincere and false example

how to be cranes,

how to be the last cranes.

​

Costume Rearing

© Pepper Trail