Forever

Again,

For the millionth time

I gazed out

 At the starry, brilliant sky

Reaching out

With my paws

Hoping

Someday

I would escape this prison cell

I never deserved

Sniffing, I turned

My tail flicking from side to side like an angry snake

My keeper sneers

Hungry, Stripes?

Anger brews inside

I snarl

Displaying my sharp teeth

When will this ever end?

Memories 

Trees

Gunshots

People

Screaming

Growling

My mother roaring

Bristling

Determined to protect me and the unborn kits

In her swollen belly

Then falling

Soundlessly

Silently

Graceful even in death

Her paws still stretched out in attack

I will never

Be able

To erase the memory

Of her blank, empty eyes

Reflecting the sparkling stars

They could not see

Fear

People

Locked me up

In chains

Afraid

Of my claws and teeth

My father

Once said

The fear of a tiger

Looked like:

Cowering

Trembling

I knew that we have

to protect ourselves.

Humans do, too

I have learned

The fear of a human

Is so much more

Violence

Guns

Killing

Chains

Circus

I have learned

That now

My home

Is a circus

No meat

No playing

No sunlight

Only pain

Only obedience

Only the frightful, evil glint

Of the hook

Used to punish us

This 

Is a circus?

Beatings

Each day

I have to jump through

hoops

Of fire

If I am scared

Beatings

If I am tentative

Beatings

If I am rebellious

Beatings

Scars pattern my body

Slicing through the stripes

Lacerating at my pride

Trying to belong

They never will

If my family was still here

What would they say?

Each night

I stare at the sky

With my dull, lifeless eyes

No matter how scarred I am

Stars will always be there

Visitors

Eyes

Staring

Pushing popcorn 

Into greedy mouths

With ugly, hairless paws

They roar

As I leap through the hoops

And scorch my fur

The whip comes flashing

I roar

They roar

The only difference:

They roar with delight

I roar with disgust

Forever

The air around me

 Is hot, suffocating

Once again

I keen

Hopefully

To the stars

I lie down

Feeling comforted

By the fact

That even though I might be here forever

The stars will, too.