A Bestiarius to His Baby
 

Mosaic with Bestiary. 2-3 century A.D. Nennig, Germany.

I promise that you will sit in the Colosseum
on the superior marble seating,
and bull elephants will bow to you.
 
I promise that towering, raging bears
will rip their jaws through hulks of charging buffalo,
to die pleasing you.
 
I promise that at the Circus Maximus,
your chariot will be pulled by glossy panthers –
and the empire’s fastest horses will not outflank you.

Helen Fletcher

If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Helen Fletcher would be pleased to hear them