Cecil The Lion, R.I.P. Poem by Donal Mahoney

We know the story about
Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe
killed by an American dentist

who paid a guide to find him
a lion he could kill
with a bow and arrow.

The guide lured Cecil, a lion,
off a wildlife preserve, using
the stench of a dead animal

roped to the top of his vehicle.
The dentist’s arrow wounded
Cecil but it took hours to locate

the lion and kill him with a rifle.
No word yet as to whether Cecil’s
heart, brains and liver were shipped

the way a Planned Parenthood staffer
said her New York agency ships
smaller hearts, brains and livers.