The Monkey Tree

 

He came to my fortieth dressed as an ape —

He was hilarious —

Then we went different ways on the monkey tree:

He took one branch.

I took another.

That’s when he tried it the first time

But the branch broke.

The second time he tried it

He was unlucky too —

Police divers pulled him up during

A rescue training session.

The third time

He got lucky.

He gassed himself in his Volvo

In a friend’s garage.

He never made forty.