In a dry, dreamlike landscape, the speaker watches three animals act out a small moral drama. A tiger named Hate stalks a sleeping lamb. Just as the tiger springs, a lion appears—terrible and brave—and the attack breaks apart like a wave, the tiger vanishing like a flame. The lamb then says it is Love and asks the lion its name. The lion’s answer is the poem’s turn: it too is Love, but love in a stronger, protective form. The speaker’s tone is calm and observant, almost visionary, and the mood shifts from tense danger to quiet relief. The poem suggests that love can be both gentle and fierce, and that real love has the power to face down hate and make rest possible.
The Lion and the Lamb — Summary
I saw a Tiger's golden flank, I saw what food he ate, By a desert spring he drank; The Tiger's name was Hate.
Then I saw a placid Lamb Lying fast asleep; Like a river from its dam Flashed the Tiger's leap.
I saw a Lion tawny-red, Terrible and brave; The Tiger's leap overhead Broke like a wave.
In sand below or sun above He faded like a flame. The Lamb said, "I am Love"; "Lion, tell your name."
The Lion's voice thundering Shook his vaulted breast, "I am Love. By this spring, Brother, let us rest."