Panthera Tigris
To them most stealthy, most noble, most fierce,
chased and trophied by a mightier foe;
striped jungle beast with eyes and claws that pierce -
O white coated emperor in the snow.
Now it’s the hunter turned hunted - great cat
whose wild prowl is driven to higher ground,
but this I shame to hear, and more than that,
no man should follow where tigers are found.
The captive cub, the zoo, the circus cage
will not the untamed roar save to cherish -
in irony of our extinction age
that which makes you mighty makes you perish.
A world without all is a world less grand
when less roamed is the forest and marshland.
Written: February 1991
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