In Tbilisi zoo, an astonished monkey sits
And watches naked apes in their world-wide
Cage kill. Two passing girls see bits
Of brain, run off. But one, Dina, decid-
es to return, to save a random, red-headed man.
She gives others’ money, promises amends.
An unrefusable miniskirted offer to her secret stan,
A drug boss, fixes it, and thereby sends
Her lover to gunplay, madness, and death. A rope
Cut from Chekhov’s improbable gymnastic rings
Chokes this bravest of women, drained of hope,
Done in by the gross unfairness of things.
This masterpiece’s moral – “no good deed
Goes unpunished” – is just the one we need.
(18.3.26) v 1.3
