He mourns - this exile
from his land, he wonders
when he might go home,
and why the world still
keeps on turning,
when all he has
is memories burning ;
Of all he was and all he knew,
before this dull and hateful zoo.

And all his days he dreams his dreams,
of life roamed free beneath the sun ;
The sight, the sound, the taste of home,
the rich savannah stretched afar.
Of sunlight flashing like a blade
on all the beauty God has made,
eyes to the far horizon held,
uncaged upon the untamed veld.

But he is old and weary now,
caged in his mind - caged in his heart ;
Eyes burning still, though faint the flame
of how he lived before he came
to this poor place of grey and cold,
where under man's unceasing eye
he yearns now only to be dead ;
To breathe his last and lay his head

And all he is shall come to him
as the last burden slips away ;
When he can lean into the wind
uncaged in his green paradise -
unbound from all loathsome decay ;
Where he may run, where he may dream,
of all he was and all he knew,
Not this - this dull and hateful zoo.