Menagerie Redux

The girl is gone and leopard cries
While brown wolf cracks a jest
Little kitty looks confused
And tiger beats his chest

Serpent is the one to watch
For he's not like his kin
His heart is cold and eyes are clear
And knows they cannot win

Cynic serpent's slitted tongue
It slides across their ears
Spreading truth and bitter lies
His distillate of fears

Brown wolf laughs, How true! he says
It's really quite amusing
To think that anyone could win
When all the world is losing!

But leopard tries to hide his ears
He's heard it all before
And every time, his heart, it dies
And he can't take much more

Clueless, little kitty frowns
Unsure what he should feel
He knows that something must be wrong
And wishes it would heal

Tiger claws at serpent's tongue
So arrogant and free
Rage and pride and stubbornness
Are all he'll ever be

But serpent has a thousand lies
And each as true as Truth
He knows just where to stick the knife
And sink his poison tooth

The brown wolf keeps on laughing
As leopard slits his wrists
And kitty's somewhere crying
While tiger still resists

And laughing, bleeding, broken
One day they all will fall
When leopard's love and tiger's strength
Succumb to reason's call

--Tonin, December 21 2014