Dian Fossey and her work with the Gorillas of Central Africa

Her virtue was her moral strength
Her integrity and grace
Dr Leakey realised how she was on his case
A believer in her ethic
He hired her and she found
A lifetime for her in Rwanda
Right there on the ground

Karisoke it would be her camp
Her place where she
Could settle down and work away
It became her liberty
MT Karasimbi loomed ahead
MT Visoke behind
Hence the camps name
Really part of how she was
And was always on her mind

10,000 feet close to the clouds
A lot of mist about
Wet and cold inhospitable
But she was never in any doubt
Up here in Virunga and the Volcanoes
National Park
With families of Gorilla’s
Dian made her mark

She had a crusading spirit
And was humble to the cause
The Gorillas were to bear her life
And seldom would she pause
Clearly on a time lock of respectability
With a plethora of good points
Feeling very free

Away from all the controlling forces
Into the kingdom of the green
Amongst the wonderful silver backs
Where few men would have been
Everywhere dense foliage
A boundless kind of place
And to think she had been up here alone
Lost without a trace

National Geographic asked Bob Campbell to
Go and film with Dian
Something he wanted to do
And when he got there
He was housed in a tent away from camp
Just a couple of old blankets
It was cold and it was damp
And Dian was so short tempered
Belligerent in fact
And he clearly wasn’t happy
And likewise did react

Around that time Cologne Had
Wanted two Gorillas for their zoo
And Dian set to look after them
Coca and Pukka who
Went on long walks together
And Bob he joined them too
And got some splendid footage
Of the famous two

Whilst this was going on
Dian hoped to save them, she
Was trying to prevent them being shipped
For she knew they’d be
And suffer, if they were shipped
The babies would and they
Got permission to ship them
And they were shipped away

She was so attached to them
And sad to see them go
Long walks with her dog Cindy
The little souls did know
They played with her and with her dog
In a very special way
They were all getting acclimatised
To one another’s day
Dian really took it badly
She didn’t understand
Why they couldn’t stay with her
But that was how it was
And within 9’years
They both were dead
Captivity because
Wild Gorillas love where they
Come from and just live out each day

Coca and dear Pukka were the first
Real film he got
Bob found the Emerald forest
Heavenly it was not
He was wet and cold
And felt unfriended
For a while anyway
Until he got to accompany Dian
In an effort to wend his way

Neither of them were scientists
But they had a job to do
And Bob decided he wanted to take
Pictures of them too
What he could do to merge in so he got down
On all fours
And the Gorillas they were good with that
Seemingly a cause
To also be more friendly
And so it went from there
Each learning about each other
Each becoming more aware
A sort of mutual respect developed
And a romance of sorts
Between Dian and Bob who was always
Really in her thoughts

But he was unsure about this
For he had a wife and she
Was back home doing her thing
In Nairobi
But Dian was clearly drawn to him
And he was drawn to her
And for while they became lovers
And at that time clearly were

Both developing greatly
In their spirit with each other
There was a heightened kinship
With the apes too and the other
Relationship with each other blossomed
Quite a lot
Life seemed hunky dory
But somehow it was not

Good for Bob and he was asked to
Leave and go elsewhere
And Dian found out about this
And showed him her despair
In the end bob never ever went back
For he knew
That we would not be welcomed
That indeed it had all fell through

“Digit” one of the gorillas that Bob
Named then was killed
And a lot of poacher activity
And blood was sadly spilled
And Dian clearly under fire
But alone had told Bob she
Was suffering a lot now
From the continued infamy
J
she took them on single handedly
For the gorillas were her life
She couldn’t stand to see them hurt
And suffer all this strife

The malevolence was everywhere
Spitefulness was rife
Were they having a go at her
Of just creating strife
It clearly began to get to her
And one night as we have heard
She was hacked to death in her own home
Thats how her death occurred

She could never come to terms
With poaching, ever
Bushmeat and the like beyond her, she
Loved the many gorillas that she encountered
But killing them for meat she couldn’t see

Recently
one Harambe in the Cinninati zoo
Was gunned down by the zoo itself
For fear what it would do
To a small boy that had fallen
Into its moat and it was mthought
The gorilla might just kill the child
So time in fact was bought
And a bullet tore into his flesh
Which wasn’t what we thought

And now there is an inquest
On social media where
People blame the parents the zoo
And both don’t care
about each other
Sadly a complete tragedy
And another captive Gorilla
Dies Prematurely

So many people sadly
Fail to see it, they
Wild animals are important
We have to save their day
Leave them where they all were put
Not bring them into zoo’s
Corporate profit making business
It isn’t the best news
Mishaps they will happen
As has happened here
And as soon as a that boy entered that place
The gorilla was dead
The fear
Is always for the child
And the animals will be
Shot and killed for they have no rights
And the majority agree

Dian gave her life for them
She truthfully knew she
Had to try to defend them
For she knew and she could see
In essence they had little hope
With the glass and concrete mob
Who would shoot them on a heartbeat
Their precious lives would rob

And then have all the answers
Its someone else’s life
Then of course they know it all
How to talk up strife

As we can see at present
The arm chair mob no all
But you have to live among them
You have to let them rule
Your life by sharing their life
To realise their pain
To appreciate their torment
To even hope to gain

Perhaps a smidgeon of insight
Perhaps an ounce of care
You have to live among them
For their beauty is so rare
But they will share it with you
If you share yours with them
And DIan she was one fine soul
Who became their human gem