South China Tiger

Cherry

By onemorething

Thu, 30 Jul 2020
  • 1767 reads
7 comments
 

At dusk in thinned forests, still,

a terror inches closer

from shrunken borders and

as the light dwindles

there are mysterious shrieks.

The unseen is always frightening:

a tiger has not been sighted

beneath this canopy of clouds

for decades, a tiger has been unstealthed -

this is not the consequence

of a triumph of secrecy: fire has been here,

thieves, and now she is a ghost

of the only autumn these trees

have never witnessed, their young leaves

have only heard the broken myths

of tropical beasts remembered by survivors

and in the metronome beats

of our unwilded hearts,

ever accustomed to new fears.

 

Image is from wikimedia commons: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012_Suedchinesischer_Tiger.JPG

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Comments

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

A terrible shame that the tiger population has been declining, and become extinct in some Asian regions, over the years due to poaching and deforestation. The same fate has beset  elephants too and other wild animals. As far as the tigers are concerned there are some good news at last as it looks as if the numbers are picking up.  Lovely poem by the way, very expressive.

Luigi x

 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Luigi, am happy you like it. The near extinction now of lots of wildlife is very upsetting. And yes, good to see that some tiger numbers are on the increase, though sadly not this species as far as I am aware, but good that other species of tigers are returning to China as well as other places. Thank you for reading it. Rachel x

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks for the cherries. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

this is moving and powerful:

 

a tiger has been unstealthed -

this is not the consequence

of a triumph of secrecy: fire has been here,

thieves, and now she is a ghost

of the only autumn these trees

have never witnessed

 

genius

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Di, very happy that you thought so. I have read references to the tiger in Chinese folklore as being protective against fire, ghosts and thieves and have thought that this was ironic since their habitat was stolen and had largely become ghosts themselves in the wild. Thanks for reading it. x

 

Submitted by littleditty on

- and so sad that any good news is necessary if only for a teeny dose of hope or resolve or something, billions of animals..species,lost...so read 4 new tigers in Thai reserve...conservation efforts, heros..helps with we can all try a bit where we can too, even though feels pointless, feeling. Super poem.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks ld, yes there has been some good news for some tiger species worldwide in terms of numbers increase and I suppose that whilst they are still critically endangered that at least the numbers are heading in the right direction. Glad you liked my tigery offering. Thanks for reading it. x