Mountain Gorilla Poem
By Colin Ian Jeffery
Gentle giant of the great apes
Close to humans in spirit and nature
Same sympathy with love of family
Mighty vegetarian walking the Congo
Hunted and endangered.
Massive silver-backed male
Father and protector
Too heavy to sleep up in the trees
Sleeps on the jungle floor
While family sleeps above.
Babies clinging to mothers’ backs
Carried through the jungle
With silver-back on lookout for danger
Leading his family group of nine
Moving furtively from place to place.
Villagers of the Congo
Hunt and kill gorillas for meat
Trading skins on the black market
While hunters kidnap the young
Selling them to zoos for display.
Days of the gorilla are numbered
Soon only found caged in zoos
Gentle giants forever captive
Paraded for entertainment
Cousins of humans and jailed in misery
