The Lion Tamer
Beyond the bars, the circus crowd sits pale
to watch the beasts perform the tricks they loathe
–They hope that I, their tamer, may just fail.
But with my whip I will control them both.
I have outfaced the adulating crowd
and I have learned to ride the lions' rage
–My early quest for freedom had its shroud
in fame found here within the circus cage.
For freedom, I pursued the painted lights
(while others dreamed of flight in tame unrest)
in tearful longing past a thousand sights
–Within my trade, today I am the best
and watch the crowd behind its fearful mask
and watch the painted lights that will seduce
–The lions' foolish master, thus I ask
if there's still time to put my life to use.
The Patriarch
Since I was young, I've been the youngest
and worshipped Venus in the sacred
and fragrant colonnades of even
her humblest serving maids.
Some of the time I've managed to
ignore the silly rules, and valued
a graceful poem higher than
a contract of employment.
And thus I've spent my life surrounded
by books and children. Now my grandson
advises me to act my age.
Outrageous innocence!
Poor stranger, I've been younger than you
for longer than you would remember.
I've celebrated life so long
I’ve grown too young to change.
Happiness
Happiness sprouts as a humble plant
that Ogre, the purposeful, in his haste
towards a looming ambition can't
spy out, for he has no time to waste.
But Jackeline and Jack, forgetting the tale
and hunting for field mice on any ground
(imagining lions along the trail),
may find it blooming all around.
Like a River
Like a river, you carry me down
washing over my senses
the fort of my seven skins has abandoned
the rite of defence to the waves
unsheltered, my nerve-raw flesh in its freedom
spatters into the current
like a river, you carry me down
between singing, mountainous shores.
Thomas Land
Thomas Land is a poet and award-winning foreign correspondent. His poetry has been published by The London Magazine and The New York Times, his reviews and polemics by The Times Literary Supplement and The Baltimore Sun.
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