Ode To Yerkes

They tell me now that apes can speak--

Language in man is not unique.

A chimpanzee, in fact, they say

Is learning so much day by day

That soon his kind he'll leave behind

In searching for his fluent way.

I'm not so sure I like to think

Of Chaucer with a simian wink,

Or Shakespeare penning, picking fleas,

A Hamlet swinging through the trees;

Some difference, if inferenced

Would greatly set my mind at ease.

Alas! I fear my hope is dead!

For I recall I've hear the tread

Of many a talking ape before

Come boldly thrusting through the door.

One can't appeal, when I reveal,

'Tis just one politician more...

Christopher J. Cramer

April 12, 1981