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TIGERS LIE DOWN

by W. Mahlon Purdin

When I threatened retribution and revenge
I didn't really mean it, shouldn't have said it.
But I wanted you to know how deeply I love you,
How much I hate it when someone hurts you.
I wanted you to know that your pain is mine.
I wanted you to know that you are not alone,
Not ever alone, not ever. You may feel that you are,
You may feel an unspeakable sense of threat or
Something like worry times dread times fear
And think that no one knows that feeling,
But I do. When all of this happened I was like
A drowning man, surging to the breathing air, but
Held below the surface, unable to rise. I watched
As the arrows of envy pierced you, and the ropes
Of despair snared you. I saw you twist and writhe.
So, forgive me for wishing death and destruction on
Your enemies, for wanting their error to follow them
To the gates of hell, that their souls would cease
And then, by God, they would know what they have done.
Forgive me. I knew what I was doing, and that's even worse.
But, it passed without moment. It faded without effect.
Back to normal, I see beauty. I see wonder.
I see hope. And realize the deep of love:
That it can be so soothing and fire such venom.
And that in the morning when the world is born anew
It can bring back that reality of sureness and yes, faith.
A quiet grows within as the tigers lie down.

08/27/2008

Posted on 08/27/2008
Copyright © 2026 W. Mahlon Purdin

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Alison McKenzie on 08/27/08 at 06:24 PM

What an intense caring expressed here!

Posted by Meghan Helmich on 08/27/08 at 07:27 PM

this is fantastic. love makes us do strange things. powerful things. i love the repetition and lack of separate stanzas. the title/last line is just breathtaking.

Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 12/25/11 at 04:35 PM

how many times have I felt this passion go unbridled, how many times have I loosed the scare crow pent in the soul, one moment, only to wish it back in the corn field, the next. moment to moment we are in a state of duality, of passion and retraction. There is so much passion in this poem, tempered with compassion, so much understanding of one's ways and means and when we are mean, not meaning to be, is the beginning of our needing to make amends.

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