Julian Stannard
Lion
Ah, lion of Africa
I bring you my young son
not as a sacrifice
but because he’s heard you
roaring in the night
and wants to know you.
Forgive us our temerity
forgive us for touching your
sad eyes and for not trembling
in your mighty presence.
And when I put the child
on your mountainous back
(like a fairground donkey)
it’s not a sign of disrespect,
just a childish affection
that will last for days
and will give comfort
in those long dreamy nights.
I have spoken of your strength
and your proud pacing through
the lands of Africa, I have
not stinted in telling of how
you seize your prey and
make the jibbering monkeys
silent by the narrowing
of an eye. Yes, I have made
my eulogies rich and long
and now the child hears you
roaring in the heat of the night
and wants to know you.
Page(s) 60
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The