Will the Aye-Aye go Bye-Bye?

Category: Poem

Here’s a poem my friend Terry Barker wrote after reading an article called ‘The World's Most Endangered Primate’ published in ‘The Vancouver Sun’ June 10, 1992.

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Will the Aye-Aye go Bye-Bye?

The world's most endangered
primate by far

is the Night Prowler Aye-Aye
of Madagascar.

All over the planet,
good folks wonder why
we spell it like ai-ai but
pronounce it eye-eye.

He has eyes like a tree frog
and ears like a bat,
a long middle finger
and the bum of a rat.

An Aye-Aye was born
in the States recently,
the first Aye-Aye bred
in captivity.

How lonely to live
in a cage high and dry,
the last of your species,
O unhappy Aye-Aye.

And as you grow old,
will you wish by and by
for feminine friendship,
a lady Aye-Aye?

Being born in captivity
is a blessing for science,
but not for the members
of lonely Aye-Aye-ence.

So while scientists gather
for their seminar,
God bless you, Night Prowler
of Madagascar.