The Tiger and the Kitten

A tiger and a kitten met upon a wintry day
    Said the kitten to the tiger, I have come to laugh and play
  Said the tiger to the kitten I have come to find my meal
    Come play with me, said the kitten, till your prey you can reveal

But tiger rose up proudly, his chest swelling with his pride
    I am not a foolish kitten, he said (hoping to deride)
  I am mightier than mighty, I am stronger than the strong
    And I will not laugh and play with you, for that you see is wrong

Could mockingbird stop mocking?  Could sir turtle not be slow?
    We all have our roles we’re playing, and to games I must say no
  But the kitten smiled sweetly, quite unfazed by his reply
    And she took some time to blink her eyes and gaze up at the sky

Do not think I’m a fool, she said, nor wishing to be mean
    But it strikes me that you, tiger, are the loneliest I’ve seen
  And there’s many who may wish a kitten’s company at times
    For I would be kind and gentle, playing games and making rhymes

Each tiger is, he said, a hunter always on his own
    But was doubt now in his voice as he considered life alone?
  And the kitten’s sweetness softened even mighty tiger’s heart
    When she said once more I’ll be with you, we’ll never be apart

Finally tiger acquiesced, and deep the friendship grew
    Though at times the tiger could not say the things he knew were true
  After all a tiger has his pride, he’d whisper to the air
    We are independent and alone, no one must know I care

Great tiger sometimes fell in fits where he would gruff and growl
    What a burden it is for a tiger always on the prowl
  To have someone like a kitten soft and gentle at his heels
    Why she wants to have my heart, and what of all the time she steals

How could the mighty tiger, be contented with this lot?
    For alone and independent was the life he always sought
  But the kitten took this all in stride, it never worried her
    For when tiger growled and tiger snarled then kitten would just purr

It never went through kitten’s mind to tell her beau the truth
    That although he’d growl I am an independent cat forsooth
  And although he could be foolish in the ways that broke her heart
    He could never truly leave her, they would never be apart

Just as the peacock needs his tail, and lizards need their frills
    Just as dragons need their dragon gold, and mountains need their hills
  So a tiger needs his pride, she knew, and though it would hurt her
    She would patiently wait for the storm to pass, and she would purr

Kit’s purrs and kitten’s games would keep the tiger in his place
    For although he’d never say it, he soon loved her gentle grace
  It was never her he sought to flee, but rather his own heart
    With his foolish sense of tiger pride now tearing them apart

Love comes quite slowly in the heart and slower in the head
    Had the tiger not been foolish then he never would have fled
  But a tiger has his pride, you see, and what could he then say
    If the other tigers heard that with a kitten he did play?

Meticulously planning out the way his life would be
    Tiger left his kitten to her games, and westward he did flee
  And the kitten with her tiny paws could not so swiftly run
    And a pall was cast upon all kitten’s games and kitten’s fun

Now tiger in his foolish pride thought once kitten was gone
    He would swiftly be the way he was, and swiftly he’d move on
  And if part of him admitted that he loved the games they played
    Still he stubbornly denied that he would like it if he stayed

On fields through which he’d hunt and prowl as tigers often do
    Tiger sought to find that piece of him he lost to kitten’s mew
  Fierce and wild his journeys through the world, adventures he should love
    But he just could not enjoy them while his heart mocked from above

Perhaps, he thought, I’ve lost my skill, perhaps that kitten’s plan
    Was to steal from me my strength of heart, my power to command
  I will find such things again, he swore, although it take me years
    I will not allow a kitten to blind me with my own tears

Quick tiger came up with a plan to find his missing piece
    Clever tiger found the only way to get his heart’s release
  I will go to my old hunting grounds, he said through a smug smirk
    Hunts so difficult with kitten, now they will be easy work

Retracing all his steps back to the point where he began
    Tiger boldly stalked the hunting grounds where he and kitten ran
  And then coming on a mighty beast that he would make his prey
    Tiger tried his best but in the end the hunted got away

So now with reckless fervor from his quite narrow escape
    The beast turned and said, I know thee, but your skills you merely ape
  Once I feared you, tiger, but now there is nothing to your claws
    And a fawn could easily escape the capture of your jaws

The tiger hung his head in shame and said your words are true
    Since I traveled with a kitten I have lost the strength I grew
  But the beast just laughed and shook his head, and said your strength was small
    It was when you were with kitten you were feared by one and all

Until the beast had said those words he hadn’t understood
    But the truth came to him swiftly now, as only the truth could
  Kitten hadn’t kept him chained to her, he’d stayed there by his heart
    And she made him stronger when she swore they’d never be apart

Very swiftly he left the beast and sought the kitten out
    Through the world he searched, finally without shame the tiger’d shout
  I was wrong, oh kitten, and all my foolish mistakes I rue
    I left just to find my missing part, my missing part was you

When finally the tiger found the kitten, she did snarl
    For the cruelty of their parting had been his fault after all
  And he knew her anger was her right, and he could not blame her
    So he did the only thing he could, tiger began to purr

X marks the spot of treasures buried underneath the ground
    And signs mark the places where loose rocks might come a-tumbling down
  But all of these warnings are but whispers done before they start
    For its tiger purrs that mark when kittens have a tiger’s heart

You may be asking at this point if kitten took him back
    If she forgave all the time it took for him to get on track
  If his loving purrs could melt the ice of anger round her heart
    You forget that kitten said that they would never be apart

Zounds, tiger purrs cannot sway kittens to or from their course
    But if kitten was quite angry, well you must think of the source
  Kitten never took the tiger back, but with him she would stay
    Never had to take him back, cause she never pushed him away