The Ballad of Jane Goodall
Floor Speech
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, in fond memory of Dame Jane Goodall, 1934-2025, Explorers Club Fellow, Honorary Member, and Explorers Club Medalist, by L. M. Levie:
There's a tale explorers tell, of a girl with drive and dreams, Who was born in Hampstead, London in a home of modest means, With a small toy chimp named Jubilee clutched close against her heart, And a yearning for the wilderness, imprinted from the start.
She would read of Doctor Dolittle and apes of Tarzan's land, While her mother, kind and gentle, held her daughter's reaching hand. Though she had no lofty pedigree from university, Jane set out upon a mission that would change humanity.
Jane would save all of her wages, every shilling, pence and pound, And she booked a ship to Africa, to Kenya she was bound. In the camp of Louis Leakey, digging age-old skulls from earth, He found something in her manner, recognized her hidden worth.
``You shall study chimpanzees in the wilds of Gombe Stream, You shall live among the primates and fulfill your childhood dream.'' So at twenty-six she ventured to Tanzania's lake shore, Where no woman dared go solo, where no scholar went before.
And at first the chimps would scatter, running fearful through the trees, But she sat there day and nighttime under sun and rain and breeze. `Til one ancient male named David with a beard of silver-gray, Took a nut from Jane's kind outstretched hand and gently squeezed to say:
``You are welcome here among us, you may watch us, you may learn.'' And upon this invitation, science took a mighty turn. Through the years at Gombe watching, Jane recorded every deed, How they shared their food and groomed with care--compassion was their creed,
How they laughed and kissed and mourned their dead with grief upon their face, How they held the mirror to us, showing evolution's trace. But in nineteen-eighty-six she flew far above this wood, And she saw the devastation where the forest once had stood.
She was no more mere observer, now she'd fight to save and teach, And she traveled `round the planet, bringing hope within her reach. On three hundred days of travel, every year for decades long, Speaking, begging, preaching, pleading, singing out her urgent song:
``Every person makes a difference, every action matters true, And the future of our planet, of all life, depends on you.'' On October first she left us, and she shed all mortal cares. Ninety-one years of devotion, of a life of answered prayers.
Jane, who gave her life to nature, and gave voice to all things wild, Has returned unto the earth now, still a curious, loving child. So we weep for Jane this evening, though we know she'd ask us: ``Why? I have lived the life I dreamed of underneath the broadest sky.''
As we mourn for you, dear Jane, your great legacy burns bright, And the world's a kinder place because you brought us to the light. For in every child who plants a tree, in every soul who cares, In every word of hope and faith, we find you standing there.
Rest now in peace, dear Jane Goodall, in earth you loved and knew, You showed us how to live with grace, with courage strong and true. And when the wind sings through the Gombe trees, chimps call at dawn, Remembering one who loved them-- Though she's gone, her work lives on.
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