Lion 8 - Turn The Page

 


Lion 8:

Blue.

Artist behind the lion:

Mercedes Uribe (Colombian painter).

Adoptive Writer:

Roberta at Turn the Page.

Blog Description:

Roberta Nolte describes herself as someone who loves reading and writing; just one look at her blog and you are left with no doubt about her talent. Living in Ona, West Virginia (US), her blog is full of titbits about life. The subjects covered are varied and entertaining and there are often great pictures to go with the posts. Roberta has a knack of achieving a superb balance between quirkiness and serious contemplation on any given topic.

Poem or piece of prose inspired by the lion:

Blue

I named you Blue - My Blue
and you were sensitive and kind

You named me Yellow, Your Yellow
and we shared a sort of mind

We shared stories
..and a life

Until it had to end
..but you are my Blue

My soul mate
my confidant and friend



Roberta also wrote this longer piece:

Meeting Blue

She first saw him standing rigidly in the square. She had to remember to breathe. He was magnificent! Her feet took life of their own and moved the rest of her to the bench beside him where she sat, transfixed.

“You are absolutely gorgeous.” She said under her breath.

“Of course.” He whispered back.

“I’ve lost what little mind I had left!”

She put her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes tightly shut trying to regain her sanity.

“But you said I was gorgeous. I had to respond.”

She closed her eyes again and then put her thumbs in her ears.

“Are you ignoring me?”

“No.”

“Then why does your face look funny?”

She unplugged her ears, opened her eyes and forcibly pulled her hands from her face. There stood the Lion in all of his magnificence. His body was sky blue with all of the power and grace of a lion, yet blue was his most outstanding color. His face burnt orange, as if he had been facing the sun too long. It was his body’s markings that stood out so remarkably. The Northern Hemisphere covered part of his rump, South America covered his belly and his inner leg. The other geographical markings spotted his shoulders and mane.

“I thought I was losing it.”

“You’re not losing it. It’s just been so long since I’ve had someone to talk too…”

She stood from the bench and circled the lion, gazing at him from every angle. She wanted to reach out her hand to touch him, but stopped. She told him her name. “What do you call yourself?”

“My name is Blue.”

“Nice to meet you Blue.”

They talked the day away and as the sun set, she promised to return. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into years. Every day she came to visit. They talked about politics and religion. They talked about life and death. She read to him short stories. He recited poetry to her from memory. Nothing was ever dull when they were together.

As the years passed, her step became a little slower. She wasn’t as tall as she was when she was young and her hair turned silver. He continued to be radiant. One day she didn’t show up. Blue waited and watched as the sun moved across the sky. As it set, he felt an incredible sadness.

“Recite to me your favorite poem.”

The voice was all around him and he knew she no longer existed on this plane.

With a single tear forming in his stone eye he began.

(Roberta has been invited to submit a shorter piece - 48 word max - for the contest, but this stands as a wonderful tribute to her lion).