My Brother the Ape

Well, I got the invitation that you sent to everyone
And I told you family picnics weren't exactly my idea of fun
You replied that everyone but me said they were going to come
Which is how you talked me into going to the reunion
When you said everyone you really meant it

My brother, the ape
My brother, the ape

I received the photos you sent and I don't regret that I went
Or the sight of everybody stiffly posing under one tent
But I don't feel I belong and I keep wanting to escape
And I fail to see the likeness between me and my brother the ape

They all kept saying how much we look alike
I don't think that we look alike at all

But I'll admit that I look more like a chimp
Than I look like my cousin the shrimp
Or my distant kin the lichens or the snowy egret or the moss
And I find it hard to recognize some relatives of ours
Like the rotifer, the sycamore, iguanas and sea stars

My brother, the ape
My brother, the ape

They say you don't get to choose your family
But there's no other one to choose

So that's why I'm writing this now
And you can tell my sister the cow
That I meant to thank her for the Gorgonzola

And I'll allow that I've been acting like a stranger
But you guys are all so strange
Though I think of what I'm like
And I can see we're all the same
So this time next year we'll meet at my place

My brother, the ape
My brother, the ape