The Tiger Prince, Not I

Alone, set in the forest’s wild

Small, cold, yet unafraid,

Forgotten is the infant child,

Nestled in the shade.

The elder woman comes to call,

Sees hidden in the brush,

The tiny curled up bundle there

And whispers to him, “Hush”.

“I have you little prince,” says she,

Holding him to her chest,

“You've been brave and strong long enough,

And now it’s time to rest.”

She keeps him safe, he grows up wild,

This unforgotten woodland child.

Racing through the forest green

The boy is home at last.

It matters not from whence he came,

Left better to the past.

The echo plays across the wind,

An unrelenting cry,

An innocent in trouble here,

Begging and asking, “Why?”

He sees the cub trapped in a cage,

New poachers on the loose;

They will not keep you little one,

Out here they have no use.

With shower of stones and jungle call,

He leaps to the attack,

Releasing now the tiger cub,

They face off back to back.

With fists and fangs, they move as one,

With club and claw make haste

The grown up men flee fast, farewell,

The poachers leave disgraced.

A newfound friendship walks these woods,

No other quite the same.

Kindred spirits, they make their mark;

Heroes of quiet fame.

The subtle saviours of the woods,

Grow up and take their leave.

They seek a greater destiny,

With threads of fate they weave.

Out of the woods, but still quite wild,

Now more than just a frightened child.

In caravanning far and wide,

They fall in with a crew,

A mismatched mess to say the least,

But heroes through and through.

They war with demons, goblins, ghosts,

Ogres and oni too.

Suffice to say, they’ve come a way,

From all that they once knew.

Carving their way across the land

Saved lives left in their wake,

The living legends made their way

With all the world at stake.

The boy, turned man, soon donned a name

Heard in a prophecy,

‘The Tiger Prince would rise for all;

In Spirit Forest, free.’

They travelled to the heart of it,

The Spirit Forest, green,

Much like the place he once called home,

Though brighter, quite the scene.

The petals of each flower, and

All leaves are trimmed with gold,

The spirits dance around them,

Never tired, never old.

This forest is the space wherein

Both life and death make friends,

They meet in their eternal waltz

At peace, to never end.

But something lurks within these woods,

A darker force takes hold,

The Tiger Queen lies changed and bound,

Her torture left untold.

“Oh, Tiger Prince,” the spirits bow,

Though not towards the man,

The cub, now grown, must take the lead

From where he had once ran.

Old memories flood the tiger’s mind,

A spirit cub alone,

Escaped, but destined to restore,

By taking up his throne.

Back to his forest, just as wild,

The prince entreats his friend, the child.

“Brother, join me on my quest,” the

Tiger asks, half broken.

He knows the answer right away,

No words need to be spoken.

Side by side the pair race onward,

For destiny or doom,

The battle for the forest’s soul

Leaves here a blood-soaked tomb.

The queen is too far gone to save,

But can be set to rest,

She bids her son a fond farewell,

He passed his final test.

With no one else to rule this realm

The boys, though pained, must part,

Their paths may take them far away,

But never from each heart.