child goes uneaten

the headline
read
child falls
into the lion's
den, but goes uneaten.
and you wonder
what kept
the lion
from devouring
the child
like a zebra
or gazelle
gone astray.
was it the mother
on the other
side
screaming,
was it the sun
that day
looming
through the
dappled trees
of the fake
forest.
was it a lack
of hunger, the prey
too easy,
too small.
had the crown of
the lion
slipped, had he
lost interest
in a world
not his.