Sulewesi and the macaque’s

They live in Sulewesi
Old world monkeys they
Live in Tangkoko reserve
Thats where they spend their day
High up in the canopy
And on the litter floor
Little family groups
Who live their lives upon the shore

Around the river in the river
And high up in the trees
Amazingly inquisitive
Attested symphonies
Around them human beings
Who ignorantly feel
The need to buy their corpses
For bushmeat does appeal

In the market place
Wild monkey parts
Illegally killed for they
Are actually protected
But few now save the day
A troop live near the village
Of Batu Puteh they
Are clearly the indigenous
And their respects they pay

Vibrant sensitive creatures
Family orientated
Able to live in the wild
Clearly they were fated
But all around them killers
Who want to make a living
Murdering these wild souls
Who are very giving

These old souls have a connectedness
With the environment where they live
They clearly love the water
Which presently does give
Them much in the way of pleasure
Of relaxation too
A chance to be expressive
And to do what monkeys do

Play and enjoy living
Creative to a tee
Fortuitous and casual
About now where they be
Able to withstand the rain
However heavy for they
Generally find a fan like plant
And under that they stay

So they understand the difference
Of rain and river play
They wash and preen each other
And respect comes into play
They have that understanding
And each an identity
Absorbed and interchangeable
Each nuance they can see

More than 90 per cent of them
Are victims to the cause
A lack of understanding
With very little pause
The marketplace is growing
As the wild supply do die
Killed off by the market place
With no one caring why

ROB SULLIVan decided
He would go and try
To make a film to study them
And really ask folks why
They felt the need to murder them
To do away with those
Wild indigenous animals
Who live in some repose

Show them how they live infact
Prove to them its right
Not to eat these old world monkeys
Bringers of the light
Their wildness is their attraction
Their opportunity
Eating them shows human beings
Their real inadequacy

Its is beyond description
Its ignorance of mind
It won’t be long at this rate
When nobody will find
These old world souls emerging
From their canopy
For they will all be eaten
Without humility

Defeated by low orders
When a foreigner does appear
In the market with a camera
Apparently its clear
They try to hide their bounty
Treat it with deceit
Deep down they know that it is wrong
To offer this bush meat

A film we made and showed them
In an effort to create
Some interest in their being
More than a sick debate
The debacle of trapping them
Of blood and guts and pain
Of chopping them up in market
With total dark disdain

We broadcast we were showing
The film and people came
Came to see the old world monkeys
And, really our claim
That they were worth now saving
Not eating for they were
Really part and parcel of existence
And to infer

Thet they were just best eaten
And lost to all the world
Wasnt really a good idea
They had not been hurled
Into this piece of jungle
To be murdered and be maimed
For us to eat it was not the case
Whatever traders claimed

Its a paradise around them
Richly decked in green
All manner of fruits and herbage
An environment thats been
There for many millenia
And it needs to continue through
All our lives and our childrens lives
For a future good and true

They watched the film
The children came and we took some
There to see
Let them have a close up
Of the apes and how they be
Tried infact to dissaude them
From eating them for they
Have a place in the equation
Of life on earth today

Thankyou Rob Sullivan for your dedication
For your patience and for your expertise

Your film was beautiful