Jeremiah

‘He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places’.

Lamentations, 3:10 

I dreamed I went out walking in the wood

at home, a place I knew like the back of my hand,

and with my back against a tree I stood

to hear the river's source run underground.

Out from a grove of figs a lion stalked

toward me, his mane swaying and his paws

patrolling over the grass. With his gaze stuck

on mine, I sat down in that awful peace.

Imagine my relief to see him go.

Afraid to move, I watched as through the air

he vanished, and in his place a vapour strode

and settled in the likeness of a bear.

His dark claws spread like branches over me,

and as I thought of all I had done wrong

his roar breathed down the reek of rotten meat;

my cries rose in the sky and turned to song.