Tatiana

I'm putting the final touches on "Tenement Life, Part 2".  


In the meantime, please feel free to read this Poem I wrote about Tatiana the Tiger, the tiger who escaped from her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo on December 25, 2007 and killed young Carlos Sousa, Jr.  This is for both Tatiana, and Carlos...


Beautiful and majestic Tatiana,
what have they done to you...
the creatures, said to be the most
civilized on the planet.
You longed to run, longed to roam,
they lust to gawk and confer.
Your gold and black fur glistened
in the blazing sun, you panted and
could not figure out why it all
seemed so strange to you.

You were so young when the creatures
brought you here.
Memories and flashbacks, confusing
to you.
Nature's beauty and unlimited miles
of freedom you did know.
Now you are here and all you did
was leap.
Yet you leaped too far, leaped too
long.
You found yourself amongst the creatures,
the creatures who ran about, shouting
in fear.
Flashbacks again, confusing to you.
You took hold of one's warm neck, the
creature, not your prey, but a boy.

You tasted the strange blood, yet it was
too late when you realized what you had
done.
In a split second, their lead riddled
your shivering fur.
Magenta pool forming under your body.
The boy's soul and yours, simultaneously
soaring,
Yours running and roaming, free at last,
free from the creatures, said to be the
most civilized on the planet.