And the father of the gods brought down his sword upon the Pygmy Hippopotamus to send it to the land of the dead, this wide creature that once bathed in the temperate muds of Madagascar

And with a precision stroke the mighty Ares felled the Aurochs, the one known as Bos primigenius, to end its thunderous reign in the reaches of Northern America

And Aphrodite rained her blameless arrows upon the Jamaican Monkey, so no longer would that primate swing across the forested cloud of his blessed island

And with crafty stealth, Poseidon himself drove a spear through the many-layered shield of Steller’s Sea Cow to vanquish hydrodamalis gigas -- huge and indomitable mammal of the northern seas

And an arrow misfired from the bow of tender Artemis and struck Prosobonia cancellata, long known as Christmas sandpiper, and the goddess left the kill upon the beach to bring forth insects and worms to feast upon its remains

And White-armed Hera, plotting the demise of the Great Auk, asked favors of both Night and Fear and took them into her confidence to find and terminate Pinguinus impennis with quick strokes of a dagger at close range

And right behind her, the gleaming-eyed goddess Athena struck the Dodo in the chest with a spear, and Raphus Cucullatus, even more flightless than before, fell with a thud to the ground of steamy Mauritius and did not stir again nor feast upon the isle’s bounty of fallen fruits

And far-seeing Phoebus Apollo charged forward and with a mighty blow slew the Dusky Flying Fox

And lifting a great boulder that could not be carried by three mortal men, and hurling it in an arc towards his prey did Ares end the reign of the New Zealand Quail

And not slowing, no, but advancing with even greater zeal did Zeus himself enter the fray, spears shining in sunlight, and launching one with each hand did their bronze tips penetrate not one but two targets: the Eastern Hare Wallaby and the Laughing Owl, and together they lay in the dust beneath the god.

And misty-eyed Thetis, Nereid admired by Zeus, drove her chariot forth to crush Ectopistes migratorius, the last Passenger pigeon, the one known as Martha, beneath the wheels, in the Cincinnati Zoo, even as a Great War of humans began once again.

And not long after, noble Hermes, swift and deliberate, brought life to an end for the Paradise Parrot, Psephotus pulcherrima, the blood of which ran from severed head into the earth.

And disfigured Hephestaeus who built the heavens cast a fire upon the land to quell the Carolina Parakeet with its treasured feathers

And Earth-Shaking Poseidon came to the aid of his fellow gods, and with unparalleled force, in the guise of a human warrior, with his sword at close quarters, ran through Nesoryzomys darwini, Darwin’s Galapagos mouse, and with a swift retrieval and lunge skewered macrotis leucura, the Lesser Bilby, with a second strike

Not to be outdone, Zeus spotted and quickly dispatched the Tasmanian Tiger Thylacinus cynocephalus and the Pink-headed duck Rhodonessa caryoplhllacea with a deadly barrage of spears, handed to him by fair-belted Hebe, daughter by his side.

And as the battle grew, sweet Aphrodite reached into her quiver and her aim did not fail as she found Queen of Sheba’s Gazelle with a true ash-shaft into the brain, through the eye and out the back of the graceful head

And as the arrow that felled Achilles flew from a great distance, so did one arrow launched by Apollo strike home, and bring down the one remaining Japanese Sea Lion Zalophus japonicas

And you, Hades, you came as well, to join this fight to populate your own land more fully than ever, and the axe you swung brought forth blood again and again from your chosen water-mammal, the Yangtze River Dolphin, until the cetacean Lipotes vexillifer swam no more along its course

All this, and so much more, is what the gods have done, the blameless and powerful gods of Olympus, the ones for whom I kill and roast this fatted calf with care, and pour my urns of sweet wine deep into the earth.