“OPAL”

Accusations are not helping Opal alas
Captivity she will find is a morass
Zookeepers go on about it let me say
She may have been born there
But that isn’t the way

Her rainforest mind works
She’s designed to be
High in the forest
In the canopy
Freedom and fresh air
And a priority
Of space and of presence
And perpetuity

An instinct prevailing
The sun and the rain
Her life’s blood is up there
The litter is plain
And simply not where she will
Want now to be
Alone in a squalid cell
Stared at for free

Not even a goldfish
Acquires that like for
just being gawped at
For evermore
Its mentally draining
To be centre stage
Just like a front cover
On every page

She has an identity
Second to none
She is no imitation
She is number one
In her world
Adverse to the constancy shown
To her noisy chimp neighbours
When she is all alone

Some talk about Orangutan’s
As if they know
We prefer to be alone
And Its really not so
In this prison the tedium
Now of it all
It is a hindrance
It isn’t a rule

I know they are fighting
Helping me be
Away from the Boswell chap
Infinity in a cage all cramped up
Away from the green
From the life in this strife
Its just so obscene

Why victimize me
What have I done
MONKEY World wanted me
Not so much sun
But a real place in real Time
With others to share
The old simian stories
Of which I am aware

Things are uninteresting
Stuck in this place
Leaden and heavy
No one to chase
Dreary and stuffy
Arid and dry
There is water here
But I would rather lie

With some mates in a place
And scamper about
Rest when I wanted to
be in no doubt
Boswell his arrogance
Is his driving force
But it bores me to tears
Into my source

No tree bark to strip off
No lovely green leaves
No insects to speak of
What this achieves
Is a monotonous life
And no stimulation
Nothing to do
And no communication

Arborial apes
Are forest souls
Sat on our bottoms
And just a few poles
To grab on and climb
Its not what I need
Inside I am sad
And really I bleed

With emotion and sadness
That he keeps me here
Feeds me on watermelon and bananas
Its clear
He might try a bit
Peanut butter and all
But it isn’t like climbing
On great trees so tall
That bend from my weight
And curl in the breeze
Sublimity really
Is up in the trees

Will you all help me please