Movies Inspire Poetry: Disney's The Lion King

Like the hero you were,

I saw you split the herd

My father

The King.

Like so many times before,

You were there to rescue me,

To protect me like always.

Fleeting was my feeling of relief,

When you were suddenly snatched away.

Screams were lost in the chaos below

And my desperate eyes searched

The endless cloud for something,

Anything,

Everything.

I heard the pounding symphony swell,

A seemingly endless crescendo,

Like my heart about to explode.

And then I saw you rise and eclipse the sun.

Your ascent was more wonderful than the light.

Higher you climbed,

And I wished to be with you.

I struggled to climb

Hoping that I could meet you,

Exceed you,

Show you on the other side

How you had made me strong.

The moments passed like an eternity,

And I heard you roar in the distance.

Always seeing you at your strongest,

I never thought you could sometimes hurt.

I turned to see you in glory,

Only to watch as you were made low.

Your descent blocked the light,

Covering the kingdom you promised me.

My screams were a deafening roar.

As I moved downward to find you,

I could no longer see your light.

My progress was shrouded in darkness.

I’d choose reprimand over silence.

A soul more lost than mine tried to lead the way,

And though I was glad to see it leave,

I still somehow wished

The dust from those footsteps would never settle

And never reveal the truth

Of the still shadow in the distance.

I saw you as broken

Like the fractured limb of a once proud tree,

As I will always be,

Broken without you beside me.

I chased you as if chasing a dream,

A fleeing figure which used to give me

Comfort by mirroring my revelry.

I approach your stillness

As though you would greet me with waking eyes,

Ready to show me my kingdom again,

And I ask that you give me

A different beginning to the day

Because I cannot bear this type of mourning.

Can we ever go home

To the way things were?

Who will answer me there -

A helpless echo in this emptiness?

Somebody?

Anybody?

I return to feel you near me,

Have you embrace me one last time

And I remember feeling small

Standing silent in your footsteps.

Had I known pain in that moment

I could have waited to be king.

If a king’s life is truly like the sun,

Then I will forever curse the son’s rise.

For I never knew the dark of the dawn

Until the day my father closed his eyes.