Rebuilding the woolly mammoth

In 2009 a man called Harry Patch died which meant no-one alive
had fought in the first world war
and to think that one day not one person
will have seen the Beatles perform live
witnessed Les Dawson on the piano with their own eyes

which is why there is something comforting
about a warehouse space
where a group of people try to rebuild
a lifesize woolly mammoth
from carefully drawn artist impressions
so that a little girl visiting can say
Ooh a woolly mammoth.

One day the last person to have witnessed
the moonlandings on TV will no longer be with us.
Right now they remember the grainy television set
of the man across the road
an engineer with a model railway in his attic
who invited everyone over because he knew
not many people had tellies.

Everyone chipped in on receiving their typewritten invitation
The dining table was full of sponge cake and salad and biscuits
as they watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
and the other one.

They were 3 at the time and their only memory
is their normally so serious dad jumping up and down in the air
with the blast off.

There will be no people who were around
the day the Berlin Wall fell down
its meaning diminishing generation by generation.
So a wall fell down

and we’re terrified about this passing of time
the boy I sat next to in Maths class
who was scared of school dinners
lectures in philosophy now

like the person driving the van on the A303.
In the back the tusks of the woolly mammoth
Someone who lectures at Falmouth Arts College has made
who specialises at that kind of thing
so that a little boy visiting can say
Ooh a woolly mammoth.