By Michael Lee Johnson

There is a heart embedded inside this male lion, I swear.I eat leaves and underbrush, foliage of the forest, I belch.Then I fall in love with birds, strangers and wild women.Tears fall into the lush forest green below,like Chinese crystal glass beads, shatter.Then I realize it’s not the jungle, but I that am alone.In the morning when the bed squeaks, both alarm clocks erupt,I realize I’m alone in my jungle.I hear the calls of the wild-the streetcars, and the metro trains,wake me in my sleep in my jungle alone,let me belch in my belly with my Tums,let me dream in my aloneness I swell.There is a heart embedded inside this male lion,I swear jungle man, lion lover, and city dweller.