The lions of Assyria were
shrunken things - short
and thin and rather more
domestic.
They were kept in large pens,
to wait on the occasional
scheduled fury of the king,
who would go out with much
pomp and armor, glittering
in the Mesopotamian sun,
in order to
shunt them into corners
and perfunctorily, with great precision,
spear them to death,
thus proving,
beyond any doubt,
the triumph of civilization
over savagery.
