The Gorilla Poem by Bella Lack

A new life, a mammal had been added,
He lay in his mothers palms. So padded.
A snuffle and squeak, then the first breath,
But around the corner, waited blood cold death.
They had waited and waited for the babies birth,
for him to arrive on this bitter earth.
They would snatch him away, as sharp as a thorn,
straight after the gorilla had been born.
Before his eyes had adjusted to the light,
before he could put up a tiny fight.
His fists would still be clinging to his mother,
he would think of her as an other.
They would keep him behind cold, steel bars,
so he would never see the milky-white stars.
Then, when he grew as big as his dad,
they would do something to evil. To sad.
The poachers were below, a rustle to quiet,
a silent war, a silent riot.
The mother didn't hear the sound at all,
out of the tree she would tumble and fall.
Her baby would be seized by murderous hands,
then taken to elusive, faraway lands.
This was surely to be the inevitable fate,
of the tiny, gurgling new primate.
THEN. All of a sudden, a twig snapped.
The mother knew that she'd been trapped.
Her eyes were wide with terror and alarm,
Her baby boy, clutched in her strong arm.
From branch to branch, she sprang so quick,
Her movements so impressively slick.
The wind ruffled her jet-black fur,
she was so fast, like A dark blur.
She's filled with worry, bubbling hate.
She knows she can't stop, she can't wait.
Her scratches ooze with crimson-red blood,
the drops fall onto the damp brown mud.
SUDDENLY, she stops.
Her head flops.
Luckily this time, the cause is only fatigue,
but next time she'll be out of her league.