Animals In Cages.
   (Circa 1812)

HMS Tiger:  about half her men were pressed.
The admiral and volunteers, they made up the rest.
The admiral, he loved hunting, and his sentry too.
The Admiral- called Henry the sentry was Hugh.

At sea, off duty, each paced the deck, his patch,
The admiral to starboard, the sentry by the hatch.
Others fore and aft, paced a length of deck
Endless, to and fro, to the guardrail check.

The Tiger  at Bombay; for repairs and Evolution.
From Mysore Henry received an invitation.
He took Hugh too, though he was safe enough.
Hugh was a crack-shot, smooth, not rough.

The Rajah gave a banquet windward from the sea,
Senses were surfeited by his menagerie.
Here, a tigress in cage gold -decorated
Had needs engaged, her rage captivated.

Henry and Hugh watched the tigress pace-turning,
Tail swishing litter, for the jungle yearning.
They sated, of their kinship with her unaware,
Her unused muscles could but  meat tear.

On the morrow, cooped in swaying howdahs
Sweating beneath umbrellas for punkahs
Only the mahout was cool in the noonday sun
Of those hunting a tiger, cradling a gun.

The tiger beaten towards the elephants
“Well shot sir” in unison cry the sycophants.
As muskets were fired, flamed and  balls struck.
The tiger shuddered and sank in muddy muck.

While a tethered goat kept bleating in fear,
None, for the tiger gave  thought or shed a tear?
Except she in her distant gold -barred cage
Scenting death and growling in grief to engage.

Henry and Hugh with trophy returned to Bombay.
The Tiger, her cable-capstan-ed, “Anchor’s Away!”
“Set all plain sail,” Heart of Oak breasts the  sea,
And the trophy displayed to the Ships Company.

 The officers are in command upon the poop
The Men, in fo'castle or aloft but  coop-ed!
Reader- consider the  moral in this imagery?
Life now and then, in Nature's menagerie .

(Over the centuries the Royal Navy has seen eighteen HMS Tigers. The name was chosen to suit the poetry  JL. Wednesday, 28 February 2007.)