Fireblossom Friday: Lament For The Thylacine

Hello Toads and pond followers. Fireblossom here with another Fireblossom Friday for you. 

Does it ever seem to you that there is something....something that should be there, but isn't? Or, has there ever been a thing so common that it seemed it could never be gone, but now it is?  I can think of one--the thylacine.

The thylacine was a carnivorous marsupial--let *that* sink in--which lived in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea from time immemorial until the early 20th century. Also known as the Tassie Tiger or Tasmanian Wolf, it had striped hindquarters and its mouth could open to the widest gape of any land animal. Because it predated on chickens and livestock, a bounty was placed on its head, and it was hunted to extinction. The last known thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936.

And yet, the thylacine still holds a fascination for many of us today. Sightings occur rather often, and though none have been proven authentic, it is tantalizing to think that this odd and remarkable animal might still survive. In a larger sense, the thylacine is emblematic of human short-sightedness and the loss of something irreplacable. 

For our writing, there are several possibilities. You could write about the actual creature, either from your own or the animal's (imagined) point of view. You could write about the thylacine metaphorically, as a symbol for anything gone, wasted, missed, or surviving despite all odds against it. Finally, you could celebrate the thylacine for its utter uniqueness--there is no other like it. Take this and run with it, poets, but I prefer that you not go the jokey route, ok? Let's show this fascinating animal some respect, at long last. Poems of any length or style are fine, as is flash fiction or flash 55 (exactly 55 words.) Then link, visit, etc.