Poet Laureate marks ZSL’s 200th anniversary with new nature poem

Simon Armitage’s ‘The Moon and the Zoo’ explores the enduring connection between wildlife and people in honour of ZSL's anniversary. 

British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has written a major new poem celebrating wildlife - and the responsibility we all have to protect it - to mark the 200th anniversary of international conservation charity ZSL. 

Released today (Monday 20 April) as an animated film, ‘The Moon and the Zoo’ imagines the moon as a silent, nocturnal keeper, moving through ZSL’s London Zoo after dark, before entrusting the future of the natural world to humanity at dawn. 

The atmospheric animation is being shared ahead of ZSL’s milestone anniversary next week on 29 April, marking two centuries in which the international conservation charity has shaped how people understand, experience and protect wildlife - from its early scientific beginnings to its global conservation impact today. 

In the poem, the Poet Laureate conjures a night-time world where animals are cared for in quiet, unseen moments, as the world sleeps. “It slides in under the turnstile after dark, moves in a silent arc at an ancient pace, dabs its ointment on the gibbon’s paw, nitpicks its way through the troop of gorillas, smooths the silverback’s fur.” 

Armitage explained: “The night is a metaphor for the unknown, and the moon is an eternal witness to the lives it watches over. I liked the idea of the moon reflecting the work of ZSL - the care, knowledge and dedication that so often happens quietly, out of sight.” 

Culminating as dawn breaks, the piece ends with a powerful reflection on shared responsibility: “...lighting up waking minds with wild thoughts. Then morning breaks; the moon hands over the keys of the world and trusts them to us.” 

Armitage added: “The poem reflects the role ZSL has played in bringing the wonder of wildlife into people’s lives - igniting curiosity, imagination and a lasting sense of connection. To that end, its final lines are a gentle handover to us all.”  

Since it was founded in 1826, ZSL has brought millions of people face to face with wildlife, inspiring generations of scientists, conservationists, artists and writers, and shaping the way society understands the natural world. 

Poet Edward Lear started his career as a scientific illustrator at ZSL, drawing the parrots. ZSL Fellow Charles Darwin developed much of his thinking at London Zoo. Author Beatrix Potter visited often for inspiration, sketching the animals, as did A.A. Milne with his son, Christopher Robin - who named his toy bear ‘Winnie’ after a real London Zoo bear called Winnipeg.  

Kathryn England, CEO of ZSL, said: “For 200 years ZSL has worked to bring people closer to wildlife and inspire action to protect it. Simon’s poem captures both the wonder of those encounters and the responsibility that comes with them. With our anniversary just days away, it’s a powerful reminder of the role people can play in the future of wildlife.” 

The specially commissioned animation, illustrated by Greg King, brings Armitage’s words to life through a dreamlike journey from London Zoo out into the wider natural world - reflecting the organisation’s own journey from the world’s first scientific zoo to international conservation charity. 

The full poem can be read below.

The Moon and The Zoo  
  
It slides in under the turnstile after dark,  
moves in a silent arc at an ancient pace,  
dabs its ointment on the gibbon’s paw,  
nitpicks its way through the troop of gorillas,  
smooths the silverback’s fur.    
The moon  
puts a crystalline glint in the tiger’s eye,  
makes a zebra flicker like old film,  
shushes the two-toed sloth when it stirs.   
On it goes, incognito keeper and carer  
wheeling through tunnels, passing through fences,  
casting the black kite in a platinum glow,  
mending cracked hide with its soft flux   
and welding the armadillo’s chainmail coat.  
A restless otter slips out of its holt   
and rolls the ball of the moon in its feet;  
the full moon smears its milky smile  
on the lips of pups and kittens and cubs.  
It crowns the giraffe in its standing sleep,  
draws out the aye aye’s ET fingers  
for a midnight manicure, blesses a tortoise,   
lifts up its lamp to check on the lions,  
sharpens the warthog’s tusks, brushes the strings  
of the cupboard spider’s jittery web   
without sounding a note, then makes  
a final sweep of the nests and dens.  
 
But there’s still work to do before dawn,  
spreading out through the city, leafleting streets,   
leaving animal dreams under pillows   
and conjuring tundra, rain forest, swamp  
or savannah from gardens and parks,   
lighting up waking minds with wild thoughts.  
Then morning breaks; the moon hands over   
the keys of the world and trusts them to us.  

©Simon Armitage 
 

Poetry, inspiration and ZSL 

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and our CEO, Kathryn England met to explore how ZSL has inspired artists, writers and creative thinking over the past 200 years. From literature to poetry, they reflect on the role of imagination, storytelling and emotion in shaping how people connect with wildlife.