The Tiger In the Dark

Watching from a shadowed place, You harbor no ill-will. But when they see your golden eyes, Like candles in a haunted place, Watching, waiting, seeing the unseen. They fear the unknown twitch of legs, The unwilling tense of jaws. You are too much like them. But not enough; no, not enough for them to understand. You fancy an escape from them, And the cruelty they possess. But they know the power behind your eyes, Beneath your body of cracked alabaster. And they see your beauty like a thing of fire. A gorgeous, enticing, danger. And there's something about it, beauty and alarm, That turns men into monsters. The same monsters that they fear. But not like you, White Tiger. You're the monster you were born.