If Humans Were Animals

Paul/Flickr

They say we were once with hunched backs and slumped frames

Say we were covered in hair our thick jaws our small brains

They say we did not know how to properly love, communicate

Neanderthals, they called us, Lucy, they called us, apes

But somehow we came away from the dirty, from the wild

We cut down our nails and we softened our smiles

We brushed the gnats from our hair, and grew from our ways

We washed out the anger, we washed out the hate

Because humans are not animals,

Humans are kind

We give and we love and we all realize

The normalcy of laughter,

And the value of time

If humans were animals, there would be more signs

If humans were animals, we wouldn’t have these bonds

We wouldn’t die for one another

We wouldn’t care much for love

Animals look out for themselves

Use one other for their needs

Humans love each other

Except when they plead

For food or for water

For shelter

For life

If we were animals we’d do insane things just for strife

like throw bombs at little kids in Syria and rename Palestine

If we didn’t believe in each other’s religions we’d have mass genocides

We’d start enslaving one another only because of our race

We’d come up with new words just to inflict hate

We’d ignore starving children but force women to have more

We’d call ourselves heroes and saviours in war

Our deepest needs and desires would begin to relate

And dissolve in the other, no way to differentiate

And we would not know what was wrong and what was right

Or perhaps we’d know and not care

Perhaps there wouldn’t be a line

If humans were animals, our impulse would be in charge

Our darkest desires would be something we indulged,

The sickest thoughts that crossed our mind

We would actually attempt to bring to light

If humans were animals,

The statistics of rape would be

Something unacceptable, they’d be crazy

Maybe, on average there would be,

433,648 victims (age 12 or older) every year in the United States

132.4 incidents per 100,000 people every year in South Africa

63.5 incidents per 100,000 people every year in Sweden

And only 3% of these savages would spend time in prison

If humans were animals,

97% of rapists would walk free.

If humans were animals, that is

If we were unable to stop

Then who could really blame us

For feeding ourselves

For treating each other

Like pieces of meat

For allowing our rage

To be the only thing we see

Humans couldn’t be animals

That kind of nation would sink

Well we were made to fight against our natural instincts

To stop when we’re angry

To calm ourselves, to think

If we were animals,

We wouldn’t be able to tell

The difference between necessity and images of hell

We wouldn’t

See the darkness and impurity in ourselves

We wouldn’t

Hold onto love and hope in spite of ourselves

So humans, obviously, we aren’t animals

We’ve evolved from the primitive age of grinding jaws and fur coats

We’ve opened our eyes to the light in the world

We’ve seen fragility and beauty, the possibility of good

Animals, though, don’t see what humans can

They don’t see the decency in a world of bad

If they did, they would probably rejoice in the light

They would let themselves fall into good, into right

So we couldn’t be animals

We fell away from that curse

Humans are something entirely different

Something entirely worse.