Three Tigers
(a 55)
Three tigers by the sea
waiting for my company,
frightened by the gunner's moon;
three tigers hungry soon.
Three tigers in the millet;
artist, lover and a poet
find their game, make it run,
eat the work when they have done.
Two wet tigers in the storm;
I laugh and keep the good one warm.
April 2022
posted for dVerse Poets
Images: Dream Caused By The Flight Of A Bee Around A Pomegranate A Second Before Awakening,1941, ©Salvador Dali Fair Use
Tiger In A Tropical Storm-Surprised, 1891, ©Henri Rousseau Fair Use
This is masterful, and what I aspire too, in such simplicity..
ReplyDeleteAh those tigers "wetting" their appetites. I love this playful piece about metaphorical tigers slaying and killing. The middle stanza is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteMAGICAL!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Hedgewitch - it has a Blakeian feel to it!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ingrid here, there's a bit of Blake here, aphoristical and devilishly demure. Three selves enter, shadowed by the "gunner's moon"; one in the end remains, embraced. Which is irrelevant, I suppose, though there's grace, even serenity, in the choosing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, B. Wasn't thinking Blake, but I suppose he is inseparable from tygers, and I'll accept the compliment.This one just fell out of a dream.
DeleteThis was a delight to read, in every possible way.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful 55 Joy! This poem of tigers is truly magical!
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely lovely! Such power in the brevity of your verse, Hedgewitch!
ReplyDeleteWhat dreams beget! Joy,it is a delightful read.
ReplyDeleteLove that "gunner's moon" , Joy, and the "millet/poet" rhyme but also the way this sings...jim
ReplyDeleteI do wonder about the tyger left in the cold... ~
ReplyDeletethe number three and the human mind, feeling like an infinite connection, the three are always one, the one is always three, three blackbirds in a tree, "i" and "id" and "ego", the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other and humanity suck in the middle, so on and so forth, the magic of three, love this poem joy
ReplyDeleteExactly. Thanks for getting it, and welcome back.
DeleteHa ha! Brilliant. Love your response to these paintings. I'm a big fan of Rousseau especially and love that particular painting. This poem also made me think of that Spanish tongue-twister:
ReplyDelete"tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal" - which means three sad tigers swallowed wheat in a wheatfield :-D