A Story Of Hard Work And Death Poem by RIC BASTASA

monkeys live on trees
in a dense forest and one
day sees a farmer and his
family bring bolos and plows
and everyday these guests
cleaned the land and planted
corn and potatoes and some
fruit trees.

the monkeys watch with
gladness in their own
playful and lazy ways.

the farmers sweat it out
during those hot days
they gather water and
fertilize the plants until
harvest time comes

the monkeys came first to
take the corn and then the
potatoes and then the ripe
fruits of the papayas and
the bananas saying foremost:

this is our land and so
we own these fruits...

the farmers brought forth
their guns and shot them all

and that was the beginning of
the monkeys claim for injustice

they were deprived of their lands
and mercilessly murdered....