Echoes Poem by Elvin Joju

The King of the beasts deep in the wood
Roared as loudly as it could

Right away the echo came back
And the Lion thought itself under attack

"What voice is that roars like mine? "
The echo replied "mine, mine…"

"Who might you be? " asked the furious lion
"I'm king of this jungle, this jungle is mine"

And the echo came back a second time
"This jungle is mine, is mine, is mine…"

The lion swore revenge only if it could
Discover the intruder in the wood.

It roared, "Coward! Come out and show yourself! "
But the fearless echo replied simply "… elf, elf…"

"Come out" said the lion, "enough deceit"
"Do you fear, for your own defeat? "

But all the echo did was repeat
"Defeat… defeat… defeat…"

Frightened by every conceivable sound
The exhausted lion sank to the ground

A bird in a tree looked down and it said
"Dear lion, I'm afraid what you hear
Is simply the voice of your lion-sized fear"