From divine origins
unknown or not
sent to keep some order
to a Godless city.

I the lion beast
neither male nor female
(yet my golden mane
would hint at male)
was said to terrorize
shepherds, farmers
and scribes alike.

My hide an armor
with saber claws to maul
but I mostly kept away
hiding my hide among hills,
digesting (stolen) sheep.

Until that man,
the Peloponnesian filth,
of a muscle mountain man
Heracles
high on hormones
came looking for a way
to kill me, skin me
to steal my hide.

I was strangled
skinned
in the first of labors;
my corpse, my pelt
became an armor worn,
a hero’s close companion.

but my flesh was left
to rot alone
as there was none
to mourn my death
but still above
stars remember me
as the Nemean Lion
in the constellation Leo.

Today Merril hosts dVerse poetics, and she inspires us to write from a secondary character’s voice. My choice was to write from the perspective of the Nemean lion who was the first beast to be slayed by the murdereous hero Herakles.

November 10, 2026