The Land of My Choice

By luigi_pagano

Sat, 25 Nov 2023
  • 763 reads
9 comments
 

The place I'd like to be
is the country of Ghana
with the tall wild grass
that grows in a savannah.

And if there was a river
with a cascading waterfall,
that would be perfect
and pleaseing most of all.

In the heat, I'd slowly pace
the hard and wild terrain
and majestically display
my beautiful golden mane.

I would enjoy unlimited
and unrestrained freedom
in this newly-found land
that would be my kingdom.

Unlike a hunting Intuit
just shelltering in an igloo,
I am an African proud lion
who is captive in a zoo.

 

© Luigi Pagano 2023

Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Nature
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Luigi,

It's heartbreaking to imagine a lion having those thoughts when stuck in a cage. I liked your unique take on the I P. 

It's that call of the wild beauty that every animal should be free.

Well put.

Jenny. xx

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Nice to hear from you. It is a sign that you have now got over that dreadful bug. I thank you about your kind words about the poem. It is such a shame that animals like a born-free lion are deprived of their natural instinct to roam in the wild.

Luigi xx

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

A nice IP response Luigi, thank you - and incidentally I just finished reading a news article on the BBC website about a lion in Bosnia (? I think) who's lost the natural habit of hibernating in the winter. I think they plan to relocate him to his native continent but in the meantime he's out playing in the snow and they have to provide him with heaters to keep him warm, poor thing!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hi Claudine. Strange how we dote loving care to pussy cats and yet we seem to disregard the plight of big cats confined to cages in a zoo. Their desire to be free to wander was evident recently when a lion escaped from an enclosure and was seen walking through the streets near Rome. Luckily, no one was hurt, including the animal. ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRMhqVwvzUc
As for lions losing the habit of hibernating it is due, i'm afraid, to climate change. A topic to which I've returned many times in my writing.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I get sad when I think of Ghana. Nine years ago I was supposed to be going on a month long truck journey through Ghana, Togo and Benin. As part of a small group I would have been cooking, eating, sleeping and breathing with local village people. I had it all planned and paid for. I even had the visas in my passport. And then, three weeks before the departure date, it was cancelled because of the outbreak of Ebola. So I've never been, but I still intend to go one day.

But I'm not a lion, I'm only a curious traveller. It must be heartbreaking for your lion. In fact it must be heartbreaking for most animals in zoos. It certainly breaks my heart to see them there.

Turlough

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hello Turlough. I too have been a curious traveller in my life but Ghana is a country I never visited. It is a shame that you missed the opportunity of going there.
I can only imagine the yearning of a lion whose only comfort is thinkining of returning a faraway place where, possibly, he once was a cub, cruelly deprived of life in his natural habitat.

Luigi

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Very sad. Did you know Luigi there are lions in India, in the wild, as well as Elephants and Rhino's  but I think a bit smaller than our's I think they have crocdilres too. Of course in Africa there are also lions in the zoo, now and then someone fell into their inclosure here and they were mauled. Not so friendly these canned lions they have no fear of humans.

Keep well! Tom

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Noted. Many thanks, Tom.

Cheers, Luigi

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Much obliged for your feedback, Jacques. Thank you.

Luigi