Weren'T You Already A Lion Yourself Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Zoos and zoos of lions open mouthed
And remote control boats
And tiny roads for entire families to circulate,
And plastic mermaids:
I once lived here and listened to the hyenas,
But never got their jokes;
And she lives further south, doesn’t she in her
New house,
And broken in husband,
And everyone has a new house,
And every yard as at least one windmill that I
Must battle,
And I love you,
But I got the sh%t beaten out of me by a punchy
Butterfly,
But I still love you: I would feed you every ounce
Of my body:
My teeth would make a good luck charm for
Your child,
After she was fat and burping from the wild scuppernongs,
And don’t you understand,
I am not real,
And I missed the bus,
And I am going the other way,
And the lions are so hungry and yet so sleepy,
And there are battle boats and bags of peanuts for you
Or your loved one
Or the elephants
And the unicorn,
And you can go all the way across the canal,
But I doubt you even live here anymore,
But if you did it would be so beautiful,
And we could skip school
And feed the lions if
You weren’t already a lion yourself,
Of course.