Tiger, Tiger you thrill me.
Tiger, tiger, slithering by
With scaly skin and glittering eye
What strange thoughts do you employ
To gauge the depths of all your joy?
Lying coiled beneath the sun
Until the warmth within is done.
On what dreams do you journey?
To places strange to the likes of me?
And what would move you to tread
To another life to the one you’re wed?
For when you’re roused enough to bite
Do you experience alien delight?
Could you leave that ecstasy
To taste another, and be free?
To choose a gentler road to roam
And find pleasant refuge to call home?
Could you trust one such as me
To gently rest in complete safety?
Or must it always be this way
That you’d attack or slink away?
For tiger, tiger, I wish it were
Different for this scale and fur.
That we might sit beneath this tree
And share this moment of beauty.
Opher 10.2.2018
When I was staying with our friends Dylan and Julia in Tasmania I had the good fortune of coming across a Tiger Snake. I believe they are the world’s sixth most dangerous snake and are renowned for attacking on sight.
At first I thought it was a coiled up hosepipe. It was quite large. As I approached it suddenly uncoiled and slithered off into a hole under the cabin. It gave me quite a shock.
A little later I crept back and found him out and sunning himself. He let me get quite close to take a couple of photos. He was beautiful.
Great poem!
Thanks again TJ.