Sense Sonnet - Acher

Martha

In 1914, Martha died,
While in the Cincinnati Zoo.
One bird, but her death signified
As a species her kind was through.
Passenger pigeons once had flown,
Billions in flocks o'er time and place.
But as other species have known -
Humans ever a threat to face.
Extinction is too oft the fate.
Present tried to correct the past,
But conservation came too late,
And Martha was the very last.

Martha, now stuffed to look like live
In the Smithsonian archive.