The Lion
by Conrad Aiken
(published in his book Cats and Bats and Things with Wings, 1965, Atheneum,
drawings by Milton Glaser)
The lion is a lordly thing
and rightly of the beasts called King
o yes indeed the King of Beasts
just so it’s not on us he feasts
those golden eyes
how piercing wise
those powerful paws
those cutting claws
and o those mighty jaws
these are enough and more
even without a roar
to give us pause.
Those claws can rip a plank right through
those jaws can chew
a bone in two
he is a fearful sight
by day or night
of might.
But let’s remember too
he has a beauty unsurpassed
see by the moon his shadow cast
upon a desert dune
or silhouetted on the moon
those sinewy shoulders and that mane
while thrice he roars
and roars again
proclaiming far and near
to norths to souths to wests to easts
Look and fear
your King is here
I am the King of Beasts!
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