Three Monkeys Online

A Curious, Alternative Magazine

The Lion Tamer

By Malcolm MacClancy

The Lion-Tamer

Someone said he met his death
Like a lion-tamer
Who decided to tease his animals
Until he could tempt them no longer.
He misconstrued their appetite
And left the circus divided.

Someone called him a ‘Hero’,
Someone else preferred, ‘The Fool’,
A third party argued life was a show
And commended the part he provided.

Whatever the truth of it
He took it with him to the grave.
He left a lesson, nonetheless,
Something we can save:
Survivors are never decided
Between the idiots and the brave.

Malcolm Mac Clancy's poetry has most recently appeared in Agenda, The London Magazine and Poetry Ireland Review. He is lyricist with 'Interference', a band described by RTÉ as, “almost mythical, definitely legendary.” Die Welt newspaper described Malcolm as “one of the troubadours of the digital age”.