Tigers

Roadside zoo’s often abuse
Their charges as we know
And it comes to mind
Now how we find
The time to let them show
Cubs yes little tiger cubs
Stolen from their mums
Pulled through the wire meshing
This treatment it just numbs

Animals rights completely
We suffer from their pain
The monotony of captivity
They have nothing to gain
Zoo’s are making money
In any way they can
The victims are the little Cubs
Whose lives go down the pan

Their interrupted sequence
Of living we can see
They feel they are not belonging
The irregularity
Of Natural care and loving
That the tigress gives by right
The companionship and caring
And the unity of light

Tigers are light bearers
As William Blake once said
This comes from their upbringing
Chaperoned and fed
By their loving mother
It’s an absolute need
It’s measureless it’s limitless
For the babies to succeed

Watching them a
Man handled
Disrespected by
Handlers who need kicking
For them to apply
Some caring they are ugly
And their priority
Is seeing to the balance sheet
That’s, if you ask me

Photo opportunities with
Travellers who ply
Who want their pictures taken
Or who cuddle them
And why
Do people cuddle tiger cubs
It makes no sense to me
What is their expectation
Is it contemporary

The old ways were the best ways
A permanence of care
Enduring and progressive
That a mother is always there
Nurturing and mentoring
And loving all the while
Giving them stability
As a constant as a style

Making Cubs swim in a tank
With patrons this to me
Is ridiculous behaviour
And their inability
To swim or want to swim
Should show the patrons
It is wrong
What they expect from animals
Just does not belong

In their precious psyche
They are babies after all
Taken from their mothers
From their teachers who they call
On to provide some sustenance
Some matriarchal flair
To invigorate and energise
So everyone’s aware

The violence that we notice
Forcing Cubs to do
Something that is alien
And they will sicken to
Such action on their person
It’s alien and wrong
In a cage or in a bath
These tigers don’t belong

Tigers they are solitary
They move in their own space
They do travel long distances
And at quite a pace
So bringing them up to be cuddled
By humans off the street
It’s superficiality
It never is a treat

Their bedrock is their mother
She underpins their soul
Supports them through their sickness
She takes on the role
Of the matriarch
Their traveller
Their direction she will set
It radiates around them
And they are in her debt

Road side zoo’s are amateurs
They do not have a clue
As I say its about money
That is what they do
Cut corners stomp up arrogance
Whilst ignorant as hell
All the wrong food given
A really darkly spell

They really should be closed down
It is the only way
Tigers are wild animals
And it matters what I say
They all are living beings
With feeling and need care
And a constant spark of vitality
That families tend to share