This poem speaks on infanticide and on ferocious animals that kill their young without mercy. New adult lions often kill their young and thus eliminate the chance of any rivalry against offspring he later fathers. Killing the cubs means that the males have a chance of leaving offspring, although females vigorously defend their cubs during a takeover. One of the main reasons for adults killing young is due to males taking over leadership of a group. If they wait for young animals to become independent of their mothers, the males may not sire offspring before new males take over the group. Alternatively, if they kill the young, the females often become fertile soon afterwards, so the males are more likely to become fathers. Some dominant animals may eat young animals in order to enforce their dominance over submissive group members. Other animals may eat young in order to satisfy hunger pains or due to psychological stress, due to overcrowded conditions. If there are too many animals in a limited area, the whole group may die out, due to too little food being available. If many of the animals die, the food supply goes further and the survivors can produce young when conditions are ideal. All of these mechanisms may seem cruel, but many of the strategies have a logical basis, as they are geared towards survival of animal groups, rather than the survival of each individual.

The lion cub here in this poem that was just born, steps into the river to drink water. But before it could the father lion kills it without mercy. The poem speaks its own irony for itself. The poem also speaks indirectly and questions the audience about the cruelty of animals that have a satisfaction and a cruel instinct to kill their own babies.