NaPM April 26, 2018

[dukealien]

I Got the Umbrella


They can’t fool me:
what good to a tiger
are shoes, or pants,
or a little jacket?
That dark Tamil boy
laughing naked up a tree—
they might as well
have let him keep them.
But I got the umbrella:
what could be more suitable,
more beautiful for a tiger
who, after all, is a cat
and hates rainy water
than this wonderful umbrella?
That’s why these other tigers
are chasing me around
and around, and around
they want my umbrella
faster, faster, they will never
catch me at this speed
but running is such pleasure
in itself, in sunlight,
merging, melting, sliding
after me, into ghee,
lying in a lapping ring
burning tiger-bright
as that little black boy
starts to climb down.