The Tiger, Alas

Tiger, tiger, fading fast
From the forests where you pass
Silently in search of prey,
Deadly hunter, night or day.

Flaming stripes and teeth of steel,
None your prey that seek your weal,
Yet other hunters oft admire
Your strength and quintessential fire.

Your backbone's spring, your mitts of stone,
Your jaws that sunder flesh from bone,
Invincible mid Nature's beasts,
They gaze, astonished, at your feats.

But now of late your numbers dim,
E'en as masses chant your hymn.
Ruthless man, your mortal foe,
Steers your fate toward final woe.

Tiger, tiger, fading fast
From the forests where you pass
Silently in search of prey,
Will you live another day?

Written in response to the news that tigers may be extinct in the wild within 12 years.

© Copyright 2010, Progressive Theology

Progressive Theology