Chimpanzees live about 60
years in captivity.
Just about when their careers
hit stride,
they die. No one else around, at 59 they groom
themselves and grin, showing their teeth to the mirror,
which sometimes means fear,
but in this case
means floss. The one volume of Shakespeare
they steadily typed all their
lives, those
many gestures, palms held out
as they begged, lips held
together
when ready for attack, who
will remember but a
half-dozen cronies
who will gather together to
eat a last termite
in their friend's honor,
gesticulate wildly
with dried branches, and sip
bottles
with worried, lip-puckered
faces?