Out Of Reach!

The playful tiger watched the leaves That fell from yonder tree And while that nothing yet achieves, His eyes lit up with glee... So on his belly he crept close, For just one leaf to catch, With whiskers trembling by his nose At plans he hoped to hatch... Advancing forward yard-by-yard, Eyes tilted skyward now, He squinted, focussing quite hard, With furrows on his brow... Though in his mind he saw a bird For every leaf that fell, His error hadn't yet occurred, He simply couldn't tell... Then suddenly he leapt quite high! Though somewhat overweight! Yet out of reach! Oh, my, oh, my! 'That's great! ' he said, 'Just great! ' Opticians can't help tigers, friend! Just folks like me and you... They're there to help us comprehend Our changing point of view... Denis Martindale, copyright, July 2012. The poem is based on the magnificent painting by Stephen Gayford called 'Out Of Reach'. More Stephen Gayford poems here: denis-martindale-dot-blogspot-dot-com