A Tiger Speaks

A Tiger Speaks  My name is Ramma I am but a picture upon your screen But somewhere in a world not seen by many I do exist to live freely But for how long I am a magnificent creation of our God He who made the lamb made I Born free or set free A question that for my species May soon not be a question That may have reason for consideration There could soon be none of us to remain And even those of you with The purest of intentions would have no reason To search your hearts for answers to The question of what is  'BEST'  for us Did he who made the lamb make thee You who call yourself humanity Our creator granted me Great strength and grandeur Since time began I and my brothers have Roamed our world freely As was his intention Until... Our paths crossed yours You the hunter You the poacher You the human That has no regard For our lives How can you Silence our beauty For pure greed I do not understand WE ...  Do not understand What is this god called money That drives you to destroy us This god seems to be so powerful That you have no regard for our lives Or for that matter You have no regard for your own You will kill your own kind Because of this   'THING' If you feel threatened That it may no longer be yours We have become to you only a commodity A price set for our lives of the same value As are your drugs on what you call The Black Market You deal... you sneak... You kill your own if necessary To take our ground bones Into your possession for personal gain You cut down our trees And claim our hunting grounds as your own Leaving us hungry and thirsty With no safe place for us to remain To raise our cubs If we envade what was once  OUR  home Then it is we that are put to death You take us from our homes And place us in your zoos for study You subject us to never ending crowds Of people who stop and stare Yes we are most times taken care of Fed and watered But ... We were meant to roam freely No matter what cost we pay in the wild So which is the greater sin While we understand We have no place in YOUR world Where is it that we belong Not long ago 'Tatiana' Escaped one or your enclosures You say she killed one of you So for safety she had to be destroyed I say to you ... Did you investigate To see if the rumors of a sling-shot Being in the possession of the young man Was in truth fact Did you listen to your own kind That reported they saw the boys harrasing The other animals earlier in the day And that there was alchohol In their possesion with empties being Found in their car No ... It was automatic the sentence She was put to death for attacking One of you that in reality Had been asking for the consequences   A little late now do you not agree To regret the error made My baby's name is Raja I protect her with my life Will it be today That I walk down a familiar path To step into a steel trap placed There by you She would then be left to die alone In a world that she is not ready To face on her own She would then become the hunted The jungle would claim her as its own The Jackals and others would complete Our circle of life As sad as my heart is to this realization Whom do you think I would prefer To be the victor The jungle or you Your traps I wonder if it bothers you at all That it takes six of you to release This tool of death I guess that is a pretty stupid question If it bothered you Your trap would not be placed It needs to bother someone You pick a time when water is scarce And you poison my place to bring Raja to drink Protecting her as we walk I would bring her to her death... Myself soon to follow her Do you not drink when you are thirsty What better way to be assured that We will be your trophy Even though, the hunt Is not played fairly You leave poison carcasses for me To find to carry to my baby   She will eat before myself Will she die before my eyes Just before I draw my last breath Of life as well You hunt me for my fur You kill me to grind my bones Into fine powder for your potions You wear my fangs Around your necks as charms And hang my head upon your walls As a symbol of your Bravery and cunning Take a good look at me! Can I not reach you with my plea To the hunters And the poachers I know my cause is Of no consequence But ... What about you You who reads these words And say to yourself "Oh, what a shame!" I may one day be only this . . . . A picture upon a computer screen Or found in a textbook For your future generations to study Under a heading of The Tiger once was . . . Does this fact truly not matter to you? AspiringAngel   TRIPLES with EMMA

Reviews

[Gaiamethod]

Beautiful poem and gorgeous photos. Yet again you have created a wonderful feast of images and words. Lovely write and sadly true! I hope people can change before we destroy the beauty of the world.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Great story, beautiful photos. I wrote a similar piece to the jaguars of Argentina long ago but they are nearly extinct now. It is very sad these beautiful cats are maligned so. Good write.

[Ray Hamilton]

A very beautiful animal and touching story
Well written as always
I enjoyed
Ray