11-22-2025, 04:49 AM
Deserted Ark
The Company gave Dad Good Friday off
(which was, if I recall, a common thing
back then, when faith was not forbidden us
as motivation for paid holidays)
and we, by firm tradition, spent it at
the Zoo. For company (small “C”) we had
sparse vendors who, it seemed, outnumbered guests
and animals who in gray, early Spring,
endured missed crowds with equanimity.
It never did occur to me back then
that we, like Noah’s family, fared forth
with two (or more) of each beast to be found
in that great concrete ship tossed on a mount.
Giraffes stood silent, chimps did not perform;
great apes, alone, showed interest as we passed.
The Company gave Dad Good Friday off
(which was, if I recall, a common thing
back then, when faith was not forbidden us
as motivation for paid holidays)
and we, by firm tradition, spent it at
the Zoo. For company (small “C”) we had
sparse vendors who, it seemed, outnumbered guests
and animals who in gray, early Spring,
endured missed crowds with equanimity.
It never did occur to me back then
that we, like Noah’s family, fared forth
with two (or more) of each beast to be found
in that great concrete ship tossed on a mount.
Giraffes stood silent, chimps did not perform;
great apes, alone, showed interest as we passed.
Non-practicing atheist