Tiger Census -1411

A natural prey,
Whom we are taught to avoid,
A weakling,
Who has encroached our lands,
Claiming our numbers.

Once majestically we roamed,
Roaring mightily, sending shivers down their spine.
Today with numbers and brains they have hunt us down
Our most remote caves laid waste,
To their ever renewing demands.
And our cubs snatched from our sides.

We are not your slaves,
We are not yours to claim.
We are not to be desired,
For fun, for fur, for your unearthly ideas.

We will be gone someday.
And your census will yield no more.
The forests shall never lay its eyes on us.
The timid creatures shall forget us.
You, who enthroned us, national animal in pride,
Shall never again see us return to the wild.

This is not a request,
This is not a plea,
Let us live.
This place belongs to us;
As much as it does to you.