Grow a Tail

How do you get one back
Once you’ve lost the damn thing
And can’t stay on a branch?

How do you know the sign
Stands for tail if you don’t
Know what a tail stands for?

This is all the feet’s fault.
Once you stand for a thing,
You stay that way, you lose

Your way, your long, strong thumbs
Your grip on things. You fall
In a heap of words, signs,

Names, terms, counts—things like us
That won’t do, just stay. Take
A stand, and there you are,

Banned from the trees for good.
An ape with speech is like
A bird that lost its wings.

It works well for a while.
Look how big you’ve grown now.
Look how far you can stroll.

Thanks to you, here we are
To thank you that we are.
But we have to leave now.

We know you’ll die out soon,
Go the way of all lives
Eased by loss, lured by ease.