SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE Poem by Greg Delanty

"As a chimpanzee - usually an adult male - gets closer,
and the roar of water grows louder
he quickens his pace, his hair bristles
and on reaching the waterfall he stands upright,
dances from foot to foot, dips his hand
in the stream, stamps and splashes in the shallow rush.
He has been known to pick up and hurl rocks,
climb slender draping vines
and swing like a chasuble out over the flow.
The spray is the incense of his water ceremony."