Come See Me at the Zoo

I am the only tiger
If the only one I see
I am the keeper of my cage
Catered serenity

I am lord from wall to wall
Of never-changing corners
I sit and watch you pass
You fascinating foreigners

My blood has never bled
on domesticated dirt
This kind sequestering
my heart an introvert

I'll rise from rested haunches
My silent jungle din
I'll bend these bars like sodden straw
Then turn and walk back in

This is my square of living
This sterile scene you see
This is my paradise
This fake fecundity

I shook the mental shackles
That leave a mangled mind
Can you, the roaming visitor
The truer freedom find?