CHIMPANZEE

.
I sit in my cage,
Or endlessly shuffle
Around my enclosure,
Boiling with rage;

And every night
I collect more stones
To hurl at you next day,
Hoping to smash your bones
Because I hate you
For what you have done to me;

I am not like the gentle orang-utans:
I yearn to charge and rampage
Through the dark forests
With the rest of my clan,
Invading other chimpanzees' territories,
And seizing their lands;

Tearing them to pieces,
Slaughtering as many as we can,
Just as man does to man;
That is what we do,
Just like you.

You call this a zoo,
Where you can view
And learn;

Yet all I do is burn
With loathing for all of you;
There is nothing
You can learn from me,
For we are vicious and vindictive
Senseless killers,
Just like you.

You put me here,
Just to amuse
The bevies of cruel gaping fools,
With their vacant chattering faces,
And those who come
Purporting to study.

So I wage my private war
On you:
There is nothing else for me to do.

____________________________________

Note: chimpanzees, the nearest of man's relatives, attack and kill neighbouring groups and occupy their territory. A chimpanzee in a zoo gathered stones each night to throw at visitors the following day.