Irving Layton – The Gelded Lion
Since the world knows the sight of balls and prick
Turns each mild Christian inconsolably sick
The sculptor was warned to use all his arts
To show the beast without those shameful parts
Show him rampant and regal, fierce of eye
But nothing must hang between thigh and thigh
To tempt some spinster for a second look
Or turn for succour to the Holy Book.
Above all, let the raw nick say quite plain:
WHEN THIS LIONS ROARS HE ROARS ONLY FROM PAIN
111:1 p.24 (1986)