Ellen told me about an hour ago that her assignment for today, an assignment that she was looking forward to, was to write a “dialogue between the lion and the sun,” apparently subjects in a painting that they were shown in class. She went upstairs and 30 minutes later came up with this for me to print out:
Lion:
Sun, oh Sun, way up in the sky,
Why is it that you float up so high?
When I look at you all I can do is sigh,
So please, will you please tell me why?
Sun:
Lion, oh lion, so close to the ground,
Can you shine when I’m not around?
The reason I fly,
So close to the sky,
Is that I like to watch you bound around.
Lion:
Sun, oh sun, you do know your stuff,
But while we are bounding, do you sit around and snuff?
We feel the wind through our hair,
In the bright summer air,
About that, we don’t think you know enough.
Sun:
I know about that, Lion my friend,
And I know that on me, you do depend,
When you wake up in noon,
The end is near soon,
And good fortune to you, I will lend.
Lion:
Will you tell me about what is little known?
When dragons did fight for renown,
Those were the days
When trouble was way aways,
And we always slept safe and sound.
Sun:
That I can not honestly say,
But I know that trouble is on its way,
In light and in dark,
The bright is just but a spark,
And all bad guys are in its sway
Lion:
So tell me to where I should flee
And take my people to be free
When the time comes to go,
I hope that you know
I am very thankful of thee!
By Ellen Meyerson
——
Honestly? No one told her to write it in verse. That’s just ellen.
