Dodge City Zoo

A gunslinger in the Old West with bananas for six-shooters.
He asks why does the world have to be so cruel?
Then he shoots a smile and dictates an elegy.
It was a gray day in late autumn and the barn swallows
Snuck in the backdoor when no one was looking
And left ashen crosses on the cheeks of the dead.
From the tower, a hundred bells were ringing.
It was sad to bury another ape, and one who was
So well liked too. Father, say a few words over the casket.
Or maybe sign something, a gesture or two he understood.
He liked pudding and watching his show on Fridays.
He finger-painted and was in love with his female handler.
Father, remind his weary spirit of why he departed.
We’ve put together a posse and we’re going to prance
Around the cacti and ride off into the sunset for days.
We’re going to get whoever did this. We’ve got a banana
Peel trap to bedevil him into the bottomless canyon.
We can peel and eat a banana before a communion wafer
Hits the ground; we’re cross-eyed with compromised morals;
We’re itching to make a mess out of something
And we’ve got the dark stranger dead in the crosshairs.