Poem for Sunday and National Zoo Lions

Poem 49
By Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks

You that come to birth and bring the mysteries,
your voice-thunder makes us very happy.
Roar, lion of the heart,
and tear me open.

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Paul and I got up early and spent a lovely morning and afternoon at the zoo! We wanted to go before the lion cubs got too big -- Nababeip has two cubs and her sister Shera has four, all fathered by Luke, and the entire family has been playing together outdoors in the great cat enclosure. Of course we also went to see Bao Bao, the baby panda, who was already up in the tree where apparently she likes to spend so many hours that the keepers are trying to find ways to bribe her down.















Since we had brought a picnic, we also visited pretty much every other animal at the zoo -- the great cats, the reptile house, the small mammal house, Amazonia, the orangutans on their high wire, the North American trail, ending up at the bird house for the feeding of the black-crowned night herons who summer nearby (and who have to be fed or they steal the zoo birds' food). By then we had gotten a lot of sun, so we came home, saw part of the Nationals win, and watched the terrible Sharktopus sequel!