The Man of the Forest

In the tiny old pet shop

On River Santubong

I find an old capuchin

Caged and lonely.

A New World monkey

In ancient territory!

Beaten and weathered

Like rocks in the river.

In the wild evergreens

Is the man of the forest

An ape with a cape

Red, with flecks of orange.

Dense, dark Sarawak's jungles

Canopies, ferns, primitive natives

Whistling birds and barking deer

Giant crocs, fishermen's tangles.

Then come the loggers

With saws and bulldozers

Clearing a virgin forest

For palm oil plantations.

The man of the forest

Screams for them to stop

But who is to listen

To an orang's voice?

Then falls the tree,

the orang-utan's home

The men come a-grabbing

It's freedom no more.

There, next to the capuchin

In the tiny pet shop

In a cage, sitting pale

Is an orang for sale!