The big-brained monkey
But I cannot monkey with time.
I cannot wait to see Africa's great arms open to let in a new ocean
I shall not witness the Himalayas peak
Before they sink and wear to pebbles in the stream
I shall not see Antarctica emerge, its forests rise again.
I am the monkey
The big-brained monkey
But I cannot monkey with time.
But I can see the snows of yesteryear
Mingling with spring rain
And I can see the blush of dawn
Arising from her bed in the halls of night
And I can see the dazzling silhouettes
Of parrots without number etching the sky
And I can feel the breath of Earth
As the moose lifts its head by a misty pond
And I can touch the roundness of the world
Reflected in a brook trout's eye
And I can follow the way of light
Where the old bear grumbles along ancestral paths
Where the rocks tumble at the base of the cliff
And shelter the next generation of coyotes -
I can hear them yipping, deep into the night
For I am the monkey,
The bad, dangerous monkey
I can monkey with the world
With clever hands to do the business
But I cannot monkey with Time.
