Moschus Moschiferus

In the high jungle where Assam meets Tibet

The small Kastura, most archaic of deer,
Were driven in herds to cram the hunters' net
And slaughtered for the musk-pods which they bear;

But in those thickets of rhododendron and birch

The tiny creatures now grow hard to find.
Fewer and fewer survive each year. The search
Employs new means, more exquisite and refined:

The hunters now set out by two or three;

Each carries a bow and one a slender flute.
Deep in the forest the archers choose a tree
And climb; the piper squats against the root.

And there they wait until all trace of man

And rumour of his passage dies away.
They melt into the leaves and, while they scan
The glade below, their comrade starts to play.

Through those vast listening woods a tremulous skein

Of melody wavers, delicate and shrill:
Now dancing and now pensive, now a rain
Of pure bright drops of sound, and now the still,

Sad wailing of lament; from tune to tune

It winds and modulates without a pause;
The hunters hold their breath; the trace of noon
Grows tense; with its full power the music draws

A shadow from a juniper's darker shade;

Bright-eyed, with quivering muscle and pricked ear,
The little musk deer slips into the glade
Led by an ecstacy that conquers fear.

A wild enchantment lures him, step by step,

Into its net of crystalline sound until
The leaves stir overhead, the bowstrings snap
And poisoned shafts bite sharp into the kill.

Then, as the victim shudders, leaps and falls,

The music soars to a delicious peak,
And on and on its silvery piping calls
Fresh spoil for the rewards the hunters seek.
But when the woods are emptied and the dusk
Draws in, the men climb down and count their prey,
Cut out the little glands that hold the musk
And leave the carcasses to rot away.

A hundred thousand or so are killed each year;

Cause and effect are very simply linked:
Rich scents demand the musk, and so the deer,
Its source, must soon, they say, become extinct.

Divine Cecilia, there is no more to say!

Of all who praised the power of music, few
Knew of these things. In honour of your day
Accept this song I too have made for you.