Between a Lion & a Worm

author's note:

"The worms crawl in...the worms crawl out."
            -- from The Hearse Song


BETWEEN A LION & A WORM

I've seen so much shape-shifting:

I've seen lions
accept the lie told to them
and crawl under stones
to survive as worms.

But fortunately
a big cat can benefit
from living subterranean

if as a worm
it feeds upon
the rich life to be found
within the black loam.

But as that worm-cat expands
its safe space will become suffocating...

for our lion to rise
we must die the good death--
we must shift once again.

Afterwards
when I look back
on my life as a worm
a sigh of melancholy
may slip from my lips...

but no--
I'll reject all regrets

because by then
I'll finally fully accept
I had to lose
in order to grow.

© 2017, Michael R. Patton
glorious tedious transformation: a poetry book