The Hungry Tiger

by Don Weeks

I am a hungry, irritated tiger
Pacing in my circus cage

[I woke up here not remembering
How it started or how I got here]

I had a dream that I was a man
Paddling, on a crystal clear lake, at sunrise

Beautiful double sunrise
The sun rose above me

And blinded me
Its brightness in the rippled reflection below

Saddened by the rocky shore already upon me
I, as a man, backstroked hard to turn the boat around

With the sun out of my eyes
I saw the other shore clearly

Not so far away I saw the long slender trees
Turn into prison bars

I am still in the cage!

It has been years--
Pacing, thinking, pacing

A train wreck but somehow we all survived
The bars protected us

I am alone in my cage
But we are all together

We are not hungry
Unless we choose to be

Somehow, we are all provided for
In every way

Most, now, lie in their cage
Fat and sleepy in a sick kind of way

Most, now, hoard food and make their cage
A sleeping cave, a forgetting place--

They do not pace and they are not hungry
They do not think at all

I dream often of that lake
Clear blue water and clear blue skies

Slender trees that always change into prison bars