A LION OF A DAY

The day walks about

Like a lion in the room

Not yet hungry enough

To pounce on me

He shakes his head

Disapprovingly

The laziness will swallow you

Even before I am up to the task

He seems to say.

I cower in the corner

Eyeing him passively

You are too slow

Must have swallowed your full

A short while ago

The mane flows, ochres and tough

Every moment stretches itself

With the lions grimace

Who wouldn’t mind me

Before hunger breaks the code.

I think of Saint Jerome

In Shibu’s painting

Praying ardently

Or of Daniel of the lions

Maybe Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s  lion

Was ready to perform

And for a moment we miss the lion

There is only the old wall clock ticking away

It’s pendulum swinging about

Like an old man’s organ

The moment stretches alongside the lion

The clock failing to measure it

Still going around in its routine chore.

The lion grunts

As if from nowhere

Or from the depth of its den

And we yawn together

Me, you and the lion.

One could have done something better

But you are lazy

And want go out

For the lion half of the day 

(That is his share of the ordeal, you say)

Wallowing, and walking on padded feet.

I pray expectantly

But the lion  is oblivious of it’s prey

Walking about unmindfully

Yawning again

And I wait till the time

His tail brushes against my cheek

Before I fall asleep.