Comments on: Unraveling https://www.vianegativa.us/2012/11/unraveling/ Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003. Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:18:47 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ama Bolton https://www.vianegativa.us/2012/11/unraveling/#comment-37571 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:18:47 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=20595#comment-37571 Long ago, when I was very young, there was a walled city in the desert.
A circular road followed the inside of the city wall and other roads radiated from the central square. In the middle of the square at the middle of the city was a stone plinth. On the plinth lay a lion. Not a sculpture but a real live lion. He was asleep much of the time, and when he was awake nothing moved but his fierce golden eyes.

One night I found myself walking on the circular road inside the city wall towards the gate on the opposite side. The streets were empty, the shops, inns and houses locked and shuttered. I came to one of the intersections and looked towards the centre, where the lion, brightly lit by a full moon, lay splendid and terrible on his plinth. I did not know if the lion was awake or asleep and I did not know what would happen if he saw me but I feared for my life. I thought my best chance lay in not attracting his attention.

What is the worst thing that could happen? Is it better to be locked in a walled city with a lion of unpredictable temper, or locked out in the desert?

But what is a lion doing in a city? The desert is the lion’s home. The walled city is a cage. The lion is locked inside the city of myself.

The walled city is a mandala. The lion is the dot at the mandala’s centre.

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