Lion Tamer

I keep the pain
At bay
The way a lion tamer
Holds back the beast
With the legs of a chair
And a whip.

Pain must be taunted
Made little of
Or it will flare in rage
And tear one’s heart out
With mighty paws
With roars
And fury.

The tamer of beasts
Does so
With a cavalier spirit
Daring death
With glinting eye.

I tame the pain
Because I share the lion's cage
In which there is no door
And the bars too narrow
For escape.

I take up the whip
And chair
Because not to do so
Is to bare my chest to the lion
And submit
To its cruel pleasure.

It is not
Tame or be tamed.

It is tame or perish.