Because I Was a Lion Once (A Poem) – The Writings of Tom Grasso

Because I was a lion once,

I hear the call of the wild,

Smell the sweet fragrance of the aspens

Pulling me toward the mountaintops.

Never lost and never to be forgotten.

Because I was a lion once,

Demons sent to frighten me,

Only cause my soul to growl.

A whispered roar to warn the beasts,

I own them. I am their king.

Because I was a lion once,

I roam where my soul wants to go,

And seek no recompense for my wanderings,

For I will starve if she so demands,

And I will feed when her hand opens to my call.

Because I was a lion once,

This pride, this brood, I shall defend,

Clarity abounds in the process of my starvation,

A frenzy ensures in the hour of its quenching,

I can not silence nature’s call.

Because I was a lion once,

I know my time is near its end,

Yet no tear forms in the thought of this departure,

For I know with each passing day I shall return,

To be a lion yet again.