Monday, January 25, 2021

1567 - Of Distant Lands


 

My first Wordle for a long time; the words provided are
Vicious, justice, cheers, settle, sway, shelf, chain, tell, call, web, send, month.

 

Of Distant Lands.

She is a fluid,
A liquid expression of power and grace
Contained in a vessel, not with chains
But with walls, and ditches and shelves.
There are cheers when she moves
Pacing the enclosure, watching and yet not really there.
Unformed, phantom images fill her mind:
Grasslands on a sweeping Savannah.  
Gazelles.  
The hot west wind.  
The cooling wells.
The images send a shiver and yet she knows not what they are.
Or why.
She stands, looking at the jeering faces, puzzled.
They too watch and wait,
Posting never to be viewed photos to the web,
Hoping for a snarl or a growl.
The sign, after all, says ‘vicious’
And so they express their wishes, a primal need for fear,
And yet her heart aches for a primal justice, unclear and undelivered.
She watches, swaying.  They watch, praying.  God knows why.
By and by she settles in the shade and the crowd murmurs its disappointment.
Some call out to get her to move about.
Months pass.  She paces, lies, dreams of places she can’t quite understand,
Cannot tell why or what are these troubling images
Of distant lands.
 .
---

© 2021  J Cosmo Newbery
---



Print this post

19 comments:

  1. You tugged on my heart strings here. Hard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Moving – uncomfortably so! (As it should be.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very moving indeed Love the description "A liquid expression of power and grace"

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the opening lines so much, the fluidity of the feline, and the line about ‘Pacing the enclosure, watching and yet not really there’ reminds me of Rilke’s panther. I wonder if these majestic animals dream of ‘Grasslands on a sweeping Savannah’ and wipe a tear away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sadly humans have little respect for other creatures on Earth. However the table may well turn as the years keep coming and we may find we are not the ones in control...but a virus!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Graceful and smooth. I love the feel of power in her movement. Humans are so jealous.

    ReplyDelete
  7. “Cannot tell why or what are these troubling images
    Of distant lands.”

    Poor thing. This is so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, this...went some place that seems to have snagged the tear ducts.

    ReplyDelete
  9. A terrible thing to be caged. Poor animals.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Humans are good at cruelty...not just to animals but to each other as well

    ReplyDelete
  11. How eloquently you speak for the caged lion! Your poem is poignant and truthful.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It wouldn't be surprising for that longing and sadness to express itself as rage, but the jeering masses will only see what they want to see

    ReplyDelete
  13. You brought each of those words to life in a beautifully composed poem ... Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  14. The human race has an art for creating nightmares for all things. It's a terrible trait...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Strong and engaging piece, impact!

    ReplyDelete
  16. you described the power and grace of the beast so well. a really great wordle.
    yes, her home truly belongs in the savannahs.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your poem is beautiful - it makes my heart ache, we humans are so cruel.
    Anna :o]

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've not seen a crowd trying to get a lion to act more vicious. (Don't doubt that they exist, but maybe I've lived in more sophisticated places.) I've seen zoos that tried to be humane, give endangered wild animals reasonably natural places to live and breed, and since the animals often liked to do those things in privacy people would complain because they were seeing habitat and no animals.

    ReplyDelete

You've come this far - thank you.
Take your time, look around,
There is lots to see.