Where are the lions?

There’s a zoo in Seattle

where the lions roam free in their

enclosure with no fences to hold them in. 

Just a moat below a sheer side 

keeping them free.

When we visited that zoo 

we couldn’t see the lions. 

Where are the lions?

The keeper replied;

The moats are frozen.

Some structures of 

power and authority

tell us we are equal but 

not allowed to speak.

If we roar, they reply:

The moat is frozen.

When the moat is frozen

the keepers don’t let the lions out

into the freedom of their cage

Hidden from sight, distant from ears 

they are silenced.

Made safe.

Yet the lions

of Christ’s early church

roamed free indeed.

Their only prison

was the Roman Empire

now expired.

To Mary Magdalene

your Lord gave you a message

Thank you.

To Syntyche, Phoebe, Chloe, Junia, Euodia, Prisca, Lydia and Nympha

and the four daughters of Philip,

we salute you.

To all women across every age

and the men who engaged them,

who spoke and taught and ministered together

for the Lord of the Church,

we thank God for you.

To God who gifts people

and Jesus who sets us free,

we honour you.

I will break free from the

cage that you say

complements you.

I, like you, am redeemed.

I am a lion and I am here.

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Suz Foley is an author, poet and artist from Adelaide. She has worked for over forty years as an Occupational Therapist, Pastor at Clovercrest Baptist Church, and a Prison Chaplain at Adelaide Women's Prison. She has published three illustrated devotional books and a poem in the Country Women's Anthology 2026. Suz uses the arts to creatively encourage engagement, thought, imagination,  dialogue and response. She is interested in empowering people from marginalised groups, including people with disability, mental illness, offenders and women. https://www.suzfoley.me/home