(no subject)

[niko]

For reference on a fic_promptly  prompt.   Can't find it on any sites I trust to link to otherwise.  I love this poem...  (And not just because the whole "sick tiger" concept with religious themes is soooo Ken Hidaka. :) )

Little Boy Sick

I am not God's little lamb
I am God's sick tiger.
And I prowl around at night
And what I most love I bite,
And upon the jungle grass I slink,
Snuff the aroma of my mental stink,
Taste the salt tang of tears upon the brink
Of my uncomfortable muzzle.
My tail my beautiful, my lovely tail,
Is warped.
My stripes are matted and my coat once sleek
Hangs rough and undistinguished on my bones,
O God I was so beautiful when I was well.
My heart, my lungs, my sinews and my reins
Consumed a solitary ecstasy,
And light and pride informed each artery.
Then I a temple, now a charnel house.
Then I a high hozannah, now a dirge.
Then I recompense of God's endeavour,
Now a reproach and earnest of lost toil.
Consider, Lord, a tiger's melancholy
And heed a minished tiger's muted moans,
For thou art sleek and shining bright
And I am weary.
Thy countenance is full of light
And mine is dreary.

Stevie Smith (1902-1971)