Born Unfree

Plight of a tiger cub born in a zoo

opening my eyes i am born into a world,

glum and threatening the voices echoed,

i wished to see the trees and laughs,

yet all i heard was “into the crates”

up i was, into a cage, suffocating my newborn heart,

not what i ever expected,

to be born in a place where i’m an object for money,

a zoo, some might call it.

home sticks to my heart like blood on a knife,

tears stream from my eyes like a distant waterfall,

fear swirls around me like an ice skater with her figure 8s,

the home, the tears, the fear,

all behind bars of ,

all of it like glitzing bling for you.

my heart broken like graham crackers,

melting chocolate of my pain,

hatred crackling merrily like fire in my chest,

sizzling, blazing, burning,

and you find pure gold happiness from it,

i am just another painting,

of a bland screeching sunset,

i am just another toy to you,

fun and games where children will laugh,

I am just a furry cub you pet while I lie drugged.

grass and forests my mother says,

sky shining like diamonds,

sun rippling down like honey,

water emerald and soft,

freedom is your home.

my mother looks at me,

fierce with fire orange and coal black stripes,

eyes cold and weak like wobbling pebbles,

coin silver chains grabbing on to her neck,

injections breaking her apart,

blood being sucked out of her,

in sweeps of entertainment and laughter,

enjoying the glamour of us in a cage,

with a blossoming aura of glitz and glitter.

I AM IN A CAGE,

when i should be rolling in grass with fresh dew,

I HAVE CHAINS AROUND MY NECK,

when I should be playing hide and seek with my friends,

MY MOTHER IS ALMOST DEAD,

when she should have been the happiest tiger in the wild,

THEY BUY AND SELL AND THRIVE,

when they should be the ones locked up behind these bars,

AND YOU, YES YOU, YOU PAY FOR US

TO CRY

AND MOAN

AND SHOUT

WITH OUR INVISIBLE VOICES,

SO WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP

save us,

because there is no glitz in my caged childhood,

and no glitter in my purr as i cuddle with the limp body of my mother

and never any glamour in the tears of my dying mother…