Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A GRIZZLY IN THE ZOO, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A GRIZZLY IN THE ZOO, by                    
First Line: A shame to your kin, you good-natured bear
Last Line: Of the mighty paw that was meant to slay.
Subject(s): Animals; Bears; Wilderness; Zoos


A shame to your kin, you good-natured bear,
You show no regrets for your lost mountain lair.
At play in the cage of your traveling zoo
With the child who throws peanuts and apples at you!

The lion is wroth and the tiger is sly,
But you eat, and twinkle your small black eye;
From the top of your pole you look down as if man
Were a brother who does what a brother can.

Do you never dream of Sierra's height
Where your comrades hunt on the trail all night?
Do you think such hide and muscles were meant
To accept a pampered and slavish content?

Resistance that fails is better by far
Than submission that fondles its cage and its bar.
Break some fetter that binds; go tear up the earth,
And show yourself worthy your savage birth.

The tiger's snarl and the lion's roar,
That pierce unavailing their iron door,
Less ignoble seem than the pitiful play
Of the mighty paw that was meant to slay.





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