To me this sounds like an apostrophe by a naturalist to a military engineer. I get the impression that the two used to be friends, even lovers, but grew apart when one pursued a military career. This would explain the lines, "I'm not waiting for you" (an inversion of the usual "I'll wait for you!" cliche) and "I used to know what I wanted to say." It seems like the narrator is lamenting the way the addressee turned his or her talents for botany and zoology to destructive ends--"your works of nature are unnatural." Seems like a particularly oblique but uncommonly heartfelt anti-militarist statement, couched in personal rather than political terms. I think it's actually rather genius.
To me this sounds like an apostrophe by a naturalist to a military engineer. I get the impression that the two used to be friends, even lovers, but grew apart when one pursued a military career. This would explain the lines, "I'm not waiting for you" (an inversion of the usual "I'll wait for you!" cliche) and "I used to know what I wanted to say." It seems like the narrator is lamenting the way the addressee turned his or her talents for botany and zoology to destructive ends--"your works of nature are unnatural." Seems like a particularly oblique but uncommonly heartfelt anti-militarist statement, couched in personal rather than political terms. I think it's actually rather genius.