Songs of the Lemurs

Singing floods the forests, melts the dawn frost,
the Indri's serenade to the treetops,
songs from the days of a sanctuary lost.

The fossas still lurk, dangerous beasts to cross,
though as bipeds invade their hunting grounds,
singing floods the forests, melts the dawn frost.

Sifakas leap spaces too wide to cross,
fleeing the hands which reach out to strangle
songs from the days of a sanctuary lost.

Troops of ring-tails flee from progress's cost,
away from the songs of hungry chainsaws,
singing floods the forests, melts the dawn frost.

The mouse lemurs shelter amongst the moss,
ears tuned to the last notes of old harmonies,
songs from the days of a sanctuary lost.

At last the lemurs huddle in a glade,
homes torn asunder, new symphonies in the air.
Singing floods the forests, melts the dawn frost,
songs from the days of a sanctuary lost.

Singing Apes

A brown ape stops at a gap
between branches and spies another bough.

Whooping, the gibbon flies out of cover,
landing on the next branch.
Hornbills take off in fright,
and a giant squirrel retreats.

The gibbons swings across the spur,
her feet dangling.
Sighting her black-haired mate,
she swivels her wrists and leaps.

He begins to sing.
His throat resonates to his tune,
a deep-chested bass which turns
into a shrill cry and back again.

His song floods the forest,
echoes through the mist,
joined by his mate's chorus.
The singing apes meet
at the top of the tallest tree.

They survey the Himalayas
sheltering the rising sun.
Their calls forming a duet, they swing
through the canopy together.