by Bruce Bennett

“P-22, Celebrity Mountain Lion of Los Angeles, Is Dead”
—The New York Times

It’s over for P-22.
They’ve euthanized him—he is through.
No more will he roam
L.A.’s hills. His new home
Will not be a cage in a zoo.

He’s gone, but his legend survives.
It will live on in mansions and dives.
He will stalk in our dreams.
There’ll be paeans and themes.
He’s a cat and possesses nine lives.