The White Lions of Timbavati

[photo by D Byrd, google images]

The white lions

of Timbavati

are wandering

through my dreams.

Sent by the Sun God,

their appearance prophesied

by shamans of old,

they are considered sacred,

the embodiment

of the link

between lion and man

from the days when

they shared caves,

and lion offered itself

to man to eat,

as a gift,

when otherwise

he would have

surely

perished.

Murdering such

sacred beings is,

of course,

unthinkable,

but when they appeared,

according to prophecy,

in the 1970's,

being rare,

they were hunted

almost to extinction.

In this way did

man repay

lions

for the gift of

his survival,

so disconnected

have we become

from the deep

interconnectedness

of man, beast and planet.

We turn from this

vital symbiosis

at our peril.

Meanwhile,

the white lions

of Timbavati

are all gone

and our souls,

even if we don't know it,

weep for their loss.