In TS Eliot’s poem ’Ash Wednesday’ (1930), three white leopards appear as agents of destruction that consume parts of the protagonist’s flesh. But they are salutary because they consume his/her lusts, thus bringing about a purifying release. In this way, by surrendering him/herself to this traumatic process, the protagonist displays a certain self sacrifice. I find this imagery and the idea of this process very compelling, and it evokes my sense of primal fear and jeopardy, as it would, were I to actually to chance upon this sleeping beast.