To A Caged Cheetah

This is no place for creature such as you In wired in prison here in Melbourne zoo So many miles from home your own Country Where you hunted and had fun and lived carefree. You look at me with sad suspicious eyes I'm human kind to you one of the boys Who felled you with that tranquilizing dart And placed you here to live with pining heart. To your eyes all human faces look the same And you stare at me as if I'm the one to blame For bringing to your life great misery Poor captive heart for that do not blame me. There's deer nearby but them you cannot chase And those athletic legs need miles and miles more space Your territory one eight acre of ground And no room for you to sport and race around. And how heart breaking this for you must be You pine for home the open territory The gazelle hunt and the unequalled thrill That climax in excitement with the kill. And now you're prisoner here on foreign shore And those great days for you can be no more And you though innocent of any crime Like life time prisoner must serve your time. And in this place you live your final day And Africa so many miles away And all day long you pacing up and down Here in your pen in distant Melbourne Town.