Each Happiness Ringed by Lions

Each Happiness Ringed by Lions
by Jane Hirshfield

Sometimes when
I take you into my body
I can almost see them -- patient, circling.
Almost glimpse the moving shadow of the tail,
almost hear the hushed pad of retracted claws.
It is the moment -- of this I am certain --
when they themselves are least sure.
It is the moment they could almost let us go free.

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