ONE LAST ROAR

The lion was getting old
he could feel the signs in his bones
and the shallow beating of his heart.

He had gone to rest under a shady tree.
In the distance
he could hear the young males
challenging each other.

It was mating season,
he was glad in a way
that he was beyond those days
and that the young males no longer
found him to be a threat
so they left him alone
to dream of the past.

The past was with him more lately
and she kept coming back to him
his African queen, his dear Ashya.

Lions mate without the need for love
but in the mating with her,
he had found a piece of himself.
It was her that he had rested his
weary head against at night
and told his secrets to.

She had been more than a mate
she was his friend and a gentle place to call home.
He still missed her even though she
had been gone many moons now.

He looked into the sky with watery eyes.
The last full moon was pale
and the stars seemed less bright tonight.
In the distance just along the horizon
he saw her standing waiting for him to join her.

With one last glorious roar he called out.
The earth quaked and with the magnificent
energy of his youth he ran to join her
floating on the edge of the sky
...written by Dee Edgett