When the Tiger Roars

lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Standing here high on the river
bank

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I look
way down to the bottom of the
hill,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">where
the brown water as a lazy old
snake

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">winds
and turns and goes where she
wills.

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">It is
hot and humid in my handmade briefs,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">mama
made them herself from a saffron
sheet,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">now they
hangs loosely down to my
knees,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">the
first day I wore them I wanted to
weep.

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class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">My friend has a store bought lycra
suit

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">with
round her buttocks a saucy frill,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">she fits
it as a sausage fits in it's
skin,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">her
father is rich, I sometimes
think.

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">There's
no one by the river now,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">except for me in my flying sail
drill.

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Way in
the distance I hear the tiger
roar,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">his
breath blackens the threatening
hills.

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class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">Well, the crocodile is not here
today

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I once
saw him, when he took my friend
away,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I
had  warned
him, but he did not
care,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">And mama
says,  "He who
just not listening will,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">then feeling he most certainly
shall."

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">He could not fight the beast when it
came

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I
wondered did he try, or did he not
care,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I
watched him go without waving
goodbye

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">I was too sad, it was a scene from a
film.

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">When I got home, I told his
mother,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">That there croc he got him by the
britches.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">He tumbled him and spun him round the
rushes

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Threw
his body high in mighty splashes,  

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">No, from him 
they found only bits and
pieces.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">You ask me now why I
hesitate,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB">Why indeed do I shiver and shake,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Standing
here high on the river bank?

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">well
this is why I never, no
more,

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Bathe in
the river when that tiger
roars.

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