Poet with a Press Pass - Jane Goodall, 1934-2025

I was moved to tears by the recent death of Jane Goodall.

So many things will forever remind me of Jane: Tarzan-and-Jane, jungles, chimpanzee families, nature videography and photography, children at play, women following their passions, softspoken modest wisdom, devotion to humanity, hopefulness. Another reminder is more personal, actually a member of our family. My wonderful daughter-in-law, who is a beekeeper, honey enthusiast, Monarch midwife, flower gardener, naturalist, environmentalist, and presenter, was during high school, an award-winning Ag student. It all began at an awards ceremony where she was invited to meet, speak to, and have her photo taken with Jane Goodall! That encounter changed her forever and, in turn, led her to impact her community and inspire children and adults to experience Earth’s care. I can only imagine how many other scientists and Earth lovers have enlarged Goodall’s reach!

In March of 2025, realizing her failing health and knowing we would all need the closure of her final words to us, Jane recorded a final message—and required that it not be released until after she was gone. In typical fashion, in the video, Jane speaks gently and quietly, urging us as she frequently did, to rise to the occasion of our world’s brokenness and, in our own lives, to fulfill our personal purposes and passions.

At the end of her statement, she finally gave herself the freedom to authentically speak truth to power by openly admitting “who she didn’t like.” Almost comically, though without a smile or chuckle, she suggested that the world’s cruel dictators—even naming names, all men—should be put together into “one of Musk’s rockets and sent away.” Many people, including me, have had similar thoughts.

Here is a link to that video:

I decided to use month’s Poet with a Press Pass post for my poetic appreciation of Dame (and Dr.) Jane Goodall, primatologist, anthropologist, humanitarian, and beloved woman. Enjoy!

Jane

Her unforgettable name—
that of the ubiquitous jungle mate
in the novels she loved as a child
and moniker of legal female privacy
followed by her inspiring surname
whose compound syllables
speak the highest mission
of global intentions—
will forever be on our tongues.

The kind (of) woman
whose tenderness took her
into the inner sanctum
of Nature’s secret lives—
places where family interactions
were so startlingly familiar to ours
that textbooks on homo sapien’s
prideful primacy required rewriting.

With the focused attention
of biologist, photographer,
anthropologist, mother, she
cherished her threatened subjects
as hours passed into years
and then onto new generations,
her patient presence leading
to our shared observance
of thick, dark fingers grasping
her slender human hands
and hairy arms wrapping her
in hugs of hello and goodbye.

Now we, too, offer our farewells,
to the best friend of chimps
and children, our world
transformed by the education
she gifted us—the lesson clear:
despite all else, being humane
is the best way to be human.

Anne McCrady