Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Shaman Says

Lion Afternoon by Jacek Yerka


On the savannah,
through the golden grass,
my alter ego stalks:
an amber lion,
all falls quiet
as she wanders past.

In a parallel life,
I walk the Kalahari
with my kin.
It is a wild world.
We don't let
just anybody in.

Yet the trophy hunters come
with guns and jeeps and toothy grin.
The shots ring out.
Soon it will be
as if we'd never been.

The shaman says
when the last lion dies,
the sun will disappear.
We'll be doomed, he says,
and I believe,
for he is old and wise.

She wanders for me,
in her last days,
as I wander in mine.
Our hearts have been
together twinned,
through all the years 
of time.


for Shay's prompt at The Sunday Muse: Lion Afternoon

The shaman Credo Mutwa  speaks of the white lions, known as star lions, who have blue eyes,  whose fate is intertwined with ours, and has been from the beginning of time. There are few left. Linda Tucker of the Global Lion Project is trying desperately to save them in a world gone mad with killing. Her book The Mystery of the White Lions is one of the most amazing books I have ever read.


13 comments:

  1. an outstanding poem. I too have read of the white lions. The native dwellers of the pains have a similar myth about the white buffalo. I like that your hearts are twinned with each other.

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  2. I really like this, Sherry, especially the voice of the poem. And lions are so amazing. - Jen

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  3. A majestic write! Bleh on the idea of a trophy hunt.

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  4. Just beautiful, Sherry. Thanks for the info on the white lions. I will have to read up on them.

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  5. Trophy hunters always make me see red. There are terrible people for whom I try to take a step back and wonder why they are the way they are, but when it comes to this group... well, nothing justifies killing for sport. Sigh.

    I shall pick up The Mystery of the White Lions. It sounds like a living myth...

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  6. Wow Sherry this is amazing and so full of truth and wisdom. I love the voice in this and all the sad and beautiful truths it holds. Thank you for joining us at the Muse this week. It is always a pleasure to see you there!

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  7. those hunters are all dead inside already, and just want everyone else to be too, I think. ~

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  8. Thoughtful work, Sherry.
    If the lions had guns the trophy hunters would be heading away as fast as their cowardly little legs could carry them.

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    1. And I would be happy to tie their shoelaces together!

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  9. Lions, giraffes, koala bears....they may all soon be gone as a result of human greed and stupidity.

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  10. Oh, that twist ... from sunshine to darkness. Lets hope the clouds roll away and the hunters are stopped before it is too late... sigh.

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  11. Yet the trophy hunters come
    with guns and jeeps and toothy grin.
    The shots ring out

    It has been made out that they are having big time fun in their big game hunting that we accept they have a right to it. Perhaps what we see featured in documentaries are none of the blood and cruelty on the ground.

    Hank

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