The Gorilla
If the expression on a face
Means anything, then surely mine, A member of the human race. And his, who did not become man, Tell that surpassing must take place For what remains to fructify. He has achieved far more than I.
He is himself, now left behind. He eannbt talk, feel shame or make Comparisons, but not being blind To his identity, can trace
Where his own shadow is outlined. He passed on what he had received Until the first man was conceived,
And is forever what I see Faithful to his experience.
And yet my human fantasy Imagines in him wrath at more Than being trapped, involuntary Anger at his successors' dullness Who do not understand his wholeness, As if some black prOphetic rage At the mistaking of his nature Had gripped him from an early age With knowledge that through all his future People would talk before his cage Clothed and upright, would turn and pass
Saying how like a man he was.
PATRICIA BEER
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