Replenishing Eden
Poem - by Gerri Leen
I wasn't supposed to get too fond
Of any of you
Wasn't supposed to feel my heart
Leap when you rush to
The door of the run to meet me
Even when I carried no food
I wasn't supposed to be in here
Unless I was feeding you
It's our secret, isn't it?
The other tigers know but they
Won't tell and honestly if you
Weren't here, if it were only the other
Tigers, I'd never visit, never
Break the rules just to see you
Because they hate me
They'd kill me if they could
But you, you chuff in a way that makes
Me smile as you rub along the cage
I always wait till shifts are over
Doctors and the other techs asleep
Only the guards on duty
Guards that aren't paid much
Who are working second jobs when
They should be watching the monitors
They'll get fired if I'm caught
Hell, I'll get fired if I'm caught
Very soon, you'll be released
Into a world that's been seeded
With prey for you
You're our bellwether
If you can survive out there
Maybe we can too
Maybe we can leave these bunkers
That only the very necessary and
Healthy got into in the first place
And breathe fresh air again
Hot air, and damp from all the
Water but fresh, like your home used to be
You don't remember home
You were born here by means I don't
Understand but have to do with saved DNA
But still you're real, you're panthera tigris
The largest big cat—one who sometimes ate man
And women, no doubt—yet I do the unthinkable
I ease my finger through the mesh
And let you run your fur against me
It would serve me right if you
Turned on me, lunged and snapped
The end of my finger off, living up to
Your maneater reputation but you don't
You just chuff and lie down, trapping
My finger against you, but not in a way
That hurts, not at all
I pull out my tablet with my free hand and find
Stories to read to you about your past—and mine