The Underhill Journal

Here's to you, William Blake!

Under a moon of ice

And a sky sparkling with frost

Shadows cross him

Merge with him

Let his eyes burn through them

At first he stands still as night

And then he moves

Undulating with slow grace

Shadows flickering 

Like the tongues of dark flames

Visible only as motion

A zephyr whirling through

Charcoal smudge trees

A smeared streak on the snow canvas

Then he leaps from the shadows embrace

Steel claws curving free from velvet sheaths

Flaming eyes as fierce

As spitting, snarling teeth

A terrible vision of winter night

Fur of snow streaked in shadow

A living spirit of Deadly Grace

Landing now in a spray of white

Landing in a pool of moonlight

Solidified outside the shadows

I watch

Caged in safety

Barricaded by glass and brick

Staring in awe at the raw wilderness 

That is the beast

Tiger

A shivering echo in my brain

Long dead ancestors feared you

Savage beauty, viewed from distance

Viewed from within the walls 

Human security, taken for granted

But still I feel the thrill

As his amber eyes meet mine

My blood coursing

With the inherited wisdom

Of those long dead ancestors

Flee

The word whispers along my spine

The light in his eyes

Holds me transfixed

As silent velvet paws

Pad towards me

Relentless

Focused

Stalking

Each slow movement

A powerful killing blow

A dance of muscle under fur

Held in check

By predatory purpose

The walls around me seem thin

The glass between us seems frail

Brittle

Flimsy protection against such 

Lethal power

He tenses, the black pools

In the centre of his eyes contract

As light sparks on

And floods the snow sunken

Patio beyond the bay windows

He tenses

Muscles oiled steel coils

Tight and fluid

Poised to strike

Ferocity encased in flesh

For a brief moment

I think I'm seeing nature beaten

I think the light defeats him

Then the truth astounds me

Tiger

Nightmare of the northern night

Beast untamed

Not stayed by the "dominance of man"

His eyes never leave mine

Mine try to disbelieve

As he becomes

A motionless blur

Black stripes become

Dancing shadows

That melt in the moonlight

Snow white fur

Ripples and smooths

Flesh beneath

Transforms

A painfully held breath

Explodes on the glass before me

Shattering into patterns of swirling frost

I still see his eyes

The beast is unchanged

Savage beauty undiminished

His shape now

His shape now is human

Male

Man

And after that brief pause,

My world shattered and remade, 

He continues that

Relentless

Focused

Stalking

Propelled by long, sleek

Hard

Muscled limbs

Loose and ready

In his predatory stroll

No change of pace

No change of focus

I am seared by his amber fire

Hypnotised by his prowl

He stops

Face inches from mine

The window sealing me

From his breath

And body heat

Yet leaving me exposed utterly

To the hunger of his stare

And the glare of his beauty

My heartbeat stretches out the silence

Falling muffled like

Footfalls in the snow

Frost sprawls on the window pane between us

His eyes burn through still

Snaring my soul

A shaking hand reaches

For the window latch

My heart

Fails me

I let the tiger in.......