Tiger Sunset Poem by darren thomas

In those evenings by a red sea
I would often gaze west
and see the tiger’s eye
staring over its den of desert hills
a single life in its predatory stare,

I remember thinking
as those nights each fell away
‘it really is a beautiful world’
or
‘today you did not get me, go feed on the flesh
and the thoughts of another’s sin’
while sometimes, I would just stare
or make wishes or promises
to all those once cool cats;

as it left for distant cities
it seemed to wink at a man’s imagination

but what I couldn’t see behind me
was the faint claw of a moon
piercing the huge cage of black
I always thought of as protection;

a tiger is still a tiger
while it sleeps
or when it roars.