Russian Tiger
(1992)
This Tiger from Siberia:
How brave he seems, how fearless in the face
Of those who’ld take his very life!.
He looks so dangerous, in his fierce pride —
As liable to bite the bones
Of careless kith as enemies — when roused!.
His personality, (as striped
In asymmetric black and gold with white
As his ancestral history),
Suggests wild unpredictability;
True trait of every feral cat.
Ferocious in attack and devious
In self-defence, this great beast prowls
His wide terrain, eliciting from those
Who watch him — at some safe remove! —
Both admiration and a latent fear
Of uncontrollability.
Symbolic of primæval force let loose
Is Boris Yeltsin, Tiger of the Russ!.
