Monkeys
By Padraic Colum
Two little creatures
with faces the size of
a pair of pennies
are clasping each other
“Ah do not leave me”
One says to the other
in the high monkey –
cage in the beast shop
there are no people
to gape at them now
for people are loth
peer in the dimness
have they not builded
streets and playhouses
sky sign and bars
to lose the lonlieness
shaking the hearts
of the two little monkeys
Yes,but who watches
the penny small faces
can hear the voices
“Ah do not leave me
suck i wil give you
warmth and clasping
and if you slip from
this beam can never
find you again
Dim is the evening
and chill is the weather
there drawn from their coloured
hemisphere
the apes lilliputian
with faces the size of
a pair of pennies
and voices as low as
the flow of my blood.
