Lioness

thoughts on a lioness in the zoo

Lioness


Her eyes are staring
through thick glass
into nothingness -

as though it were
the worst thing
they’d ever seen;

resignation is resting
its heavy head
on idle paws.

This is not an image
fit for postcards; 
a far cry from

awe-inspiring moments
of majestic laziness
at one

with the sleepy heat
of a dusty
yellow afternoon.

Instead, weariness
beyond description
behind

her blank eyes,
a lifetime
of concrete walls

and the
chill and rain
of foreign parts.