THE ANIMALS

 

A long time ago foxes roamed the earth at peace.

Hair slicked back black and orange and white,

With a pointed nose and pointed ears.

They gathered in groups nodding in their own way, strange to some but not to them,

Voting on where to go, what to do.

While they were busy hunting or sleeping or fucking,

They’d see the birds and know that in their strange chirps,

They were voting on where to go, what to do.

 

And then one day the unlucky few would stumble across apes,

The creatures with hairless faces and long dangling arms.

These animals had their own strange way of talking,

Tho they were so strange,

They somehow seemed to know more than them.

The ones with the hairless faces held each other,

They gestured with their dangling arms,

Carried their young on their back,

In their eyes there was some deeper recognition.

How else would seeing these apes make the foxes feel,

Other than completely insane.

 

A long time ago the apes roamed the earth at peace,

But then some began to lose their hair.

And learned to fashion the world around them to make coverings for their hairless skin,

Their grunts got more and more formed till they were strung in lines,

While the other apes still swung from vines,

These walked on two feet just fine,

These better animals no longer would mate with the apes,

Disgusted by them- those who can’t understand,

How else could watching this ascension of man make the apes feel,

Other than completely insane.

 

Nowadays unless they are so lucky as to never lay eyes on man,

The animals roam around knowing they are crazy.

Men change the earth around them,

They build up to the sky,

But the men look at the other animals in fascination,

Knowing that in their own strange way,

They are voting on where to go, what to do,

Just not as good as men.

And how is that to make the animals feel,

Other than completely insane.

 

The foxes see how strange they are with fur coating their skin,

How very strange it is to have a long tail trailing behind them,

The apes see how strange they are,

So close to man but so far,

Most men walk along in an ignorant bliss,

The best of the best,

A claim only belonging to those,

Who are no longer animals.

But what of the unlucky few,

Who see men for what they are,

The beasts of the world who have had a glimpse at something far more sinister,

Those who have seen the best at their worst,

Those who know how strange it is to have no hair at all,

Those who know that they are really animals,

How is that to make these beasts feel,

Other than completely insane.