The Pelican

From "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe
(with a few omissions/changes by Horatio Algeranon)

Oily Pelican (photo by Ted Jackson, The Times-Picayune)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped an oil-drenched pelican of the Saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched on a bust of Expedite just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this piteous bird now-dying turned my former fright to crying
By the foul and stinking nature of the coat of tar it wore,
`Though thy wings be oiled and caved-in, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient pelican wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Louisianan shore!'
Quoth the pelican, `Nevermore.'

***********************

"Why is this happening again?"

"A way of life is dying before our eyes. Gulf fishermen and their families are being wiped out. Men working on their boats laying the boom to halt the pollution are now getting sick."

-- "Nothing learned from Hurricane Katrina: Inept leaders crushing New Orleans again after BP oil spill" BY New Orleans writer Jason Berry (May 28, Daily News)

Following is from "Jindal sounding alarm as oil bypasses booms in Louisiana"(By Joseph Goodman,McClatchy Newspapers, May 24)

"On Sunday, two natural rookeries, nesting grounds for brown pelicans, showed signs that heavy crude oil had broken through booms and soiled these fragile landmasses. The rookeries were located in Barataria Bay, about 14 miles west of Venice, La., between Cat Island and Four Bayou Pass.

"Some pelicans frantically brushed oily feathers with their bills while others, full coated in black ooze, simply stood and quivered, as if in shock from the oil's toxicity. When a biologist in a haz-mat suit approached one pelican, it fled in fear into the inner sanctum of the small island where reeds and vegetation hid it from capture. Some tried to fly but could not."

"They're trying to fly away but they can't because they're covered in oil," said Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, the southern-most parish in Louisiana. "We're begging for help."

**********************

The brown pelican is the Louisiana state bird. When it is not oil-soaked, it appears quite lordly indeed

Brown pelican on Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (LA) boundary sign
Photo: by John and Karen Hollingsworth, US Fish & Wildlife Service (Public Domain)

"Expedite" is the patron saint of emergencies (see SaintExpedite.org). The folks along the Gulf Coast could sure use his help right now.

Read "The Poelican" (aka "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe) in its entirety (and without Horatio's modifications!)