Thursday, January 30, 2025

Tiger Emerging From Bamboo (Kano Tsunenobu, early 18th century), Sonnet #629


 












Zen tiger — imaginary,

None living in Japan — just pelt

From which to construct a kitty —

No sharp claws and jaws, no fear felt.

It slips between stands of bamboo

On silently pillowed paws,

A denizen of our thought-zoo

Who will blink out science’s laws.

It rubs against ungiving grass

And under the shoots’ fingers purrs.

It hides as other animals pass,

Having no taste for flesh-filled furs.

Like time the tiger emerges

And as quickly all things purges.