Stuffed

Stuffed heads on imposing walls beady glass eyes, glare. The house is stuffed with horns, tusks, fangs, and jowls. Many a taxidermic glower, gazes down, with a moth-farmed visage. Slaughtered beast hang heavily from high mounts. Teddy Roosevelt’s elephant gun leans against a hollow elephant foot. On gaslit nights light gleams upon eyeless tigers. He ‘bagged’ them all - a manly trait, (historical context is everything), truly, great men often display, their overstuffed ego’s. Later, Teddy Bears make amends, as best they can. Often, It is said, that these wood-paneled veneers’ echo yet, with the lion's roar, the panthers rage, and the rhino's blind charge – their spirits lunging once more, toward their now, out-of-date fate.