Lopburi

To be standing

In Phra Prang Samyod

An 1100 year old stone temple

Inhabited by monkeys

In the Macau family

A half dozen of them

Gleefully climbing all over me

Grabbing

Jumping

Being mischievous

The smell of urine

Animal

And feces

Can be quite

Exhilarating

Their curiosity

Doesn’t settle

Even as one monkey

Bites me on my forearm

And I try to shake him off

Without upsetting

The others

He lands

On the temple grounds

A few feet from me

Baring his teeth

Standing his dusty soil

Aggressively

I challenge him

With my foot

Balancing five other active monkeys

I realized then

Just like the humans

Around me

Laughing

Some monkeys

Could be assholes

Too