One Day a Lion
Charles Lennox

One day a lion snatched me in its mouth and carried me to a dark room where it hushed away my tears. One day a butterfly whispered into my ear what mommy had said in private. One day a baby elephant curled its trunk around my wrist and led me to five American dollars hidden in the overgrown grass. On a Sunday my favorite porcupine was flattened by the neighbor’s car as it backed out of the driveway. One day a bee got in my face and tried to pick a fight. One day a mermaid beckoned me closer with her finger, she touched my hair and I licked her oily tail. A wounded vulture knocked on my bedroom window after midnight and asked for directions to the airport and I lied and said, I don’t know. Two scorpions I knew back from high school were showing off a gun when it accidentally went off, the bullet fragmenting in my left arm. One day a giraffe younger than I bought me a drink and we became friends with benefits. One day a humpback whale washed up on the beach and looked me in the eyes and told me everything was not OK with the world. One day a hermit crab told me my father was on his deathbed and I pretended to understand. The crocodile offered to pray with me but I had no words. The antelope caught me leaving the motel and then scurried back into the woods, embarrassed. One day the same lion from my childhood snatched my wife in its mouth and I never saw her nor the lion again.

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