"tyger" poems
Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
7.6k
i still don't know what
i'm trying to say
like dissecting a frog
in 1500 ways
looking for different yellow parts
that piece together like
a baby's first breath
like touching yourself
with your other hand
and pretending it's someone
else
maybe i feel ordinary
because i've never made love
or ******
under the volcanic ash
of someone's dark
body
never let anyone
park inside
the yellow lines
that trace my body
like ridges in
the earth
like gaps in
time that i cannot
take back
i have no idea what i'm
trying to say like
boxed wine
and a kiss from a girl
at 7 am
on third floor north
hall in college
like slicing people
into their better halves
and accepting them
like the way time is
supposed to heal
but doesn't
i still don't know what
i'm trying to say when i think
about uncle tyger's voice
rewinding time
like green grass on
the park that day
like war and sand
like hot air and forgiving
i still don't know what
i'm trying to say
when i see myself
shedding my skin
like spring in heat
evolving like the best
portrait
of human nature
i'm not afraid to be
caught loving you
in the harsh elements
even though
i still don't know
what i'm trying to
say
Nov 19, 2017
Nov 19, 2017 at 10:14 AM UTC
First Contact
"How did I get here,I can't remember,
my brains burning out like a dwindling ember,
are those tears in my eyes?-no its pourin' rain,
I'm lying on my back in the bottom of a stormdrain,
hunted like an animal,but still I'm deadly,
like a wounded lion,you better bet ye,
will lose more men than I've already taken(taken sample),
the hunter hunted? I think you're mistaken,
I'm a one man army,armed or not,
you didn't bring enough manpower,have you forgot?,
that the sandman(badman,phantoms in the dark)
has more in his bite than you do in your bark,
it's getting dark now,tables turning,
tyger,tyger,my eyes are burning,
better keep your guard up,I've been confronted...
but how can you tell who's hunter or hunted? 16.
Riposte
Better count your sentries,I think ones missin,
when you see his blood glistenin your pants your ****** in,
should have been listenin,I gave you a chance,
now its time for the Sandman to do his dance,
like a praying Mantis I move so swiftly,
bullet's fly like locusts,but each one missed me,
the Locus and Focus of my 3rd eyes movin,
got your sentries rifle,but I won't even use it,
taunt you haunt you,flaunt skills I honed,
from a broken home,to the streets to battlezones,
catch you alone,smash your skull with a hanbo,
appear behind you from the mud like Rambo,
bodies placed like hannibal,a deadly scene,
you're a ****** housecat and I'm wolverine,
told your boss you could get me now you know you fronted,
cat and mouse reversed-YOU'RE the one who's hunted.
Denoument
Now I know who you are,and I know where you live,
and in this line of work I can't forget or forgive.
We were partners once now you've betrayed my trust,
taught you everything you know,now it's ashes and dust
your bodyguards are good,but they know I'll get ya,
more ghost than man,a modern day ninja,
leave you injured,begging for mercy,
but you know the concept is alien to me,
grabbed the bull by the horns,my hand you forced,
you're a moveable object,I'm unstoppable force,
force feed your limbs til you beg for death,
line your family up and slowly take their heads,
then I'm in the wind,gone like keyser sozey,
the word is spread,don't try to **** me,
you were my friend,but you crossed the line,
try to hunt the Sandman,"you're all ****** dyin"
Mar 27, 2016
Mar 27, 2016 at 3:36 PM UTC
Bonnie, Bonnie Burning Bright
Patrols the wilds of her yard
Where frogs and lizards live in fear
And fearsome squirrels must ever guard
They shrink from Clydesdale for her size
Though Bonnie is the faster
Perceiving her as less a threat
Unknowing, court disaster
When Bonnie gives in to the chase
A shining blur of black and white
Yet in the sun stretched eyes half-closed
Seems farthest possible from flight
For Bonnie's vices stem entire
From being fully cat
As clearly all her virtues do
And Clydesdale's too, at that
My Bonnie is my wayward child
My friend belonging not to me
For even purring in my lap
Her tyger soul is wild and free
14Apr99
Jun 27, 2015
Jun 27, 2015 at 1:18 AM UTC
you curl your fingers around the nape of the
passenger seat and the cold
metal stings but you can feel the
ghost of the prey brush your body
like the streetlights on the backseat last night
before you clutched the headrest and
you reach in the dark but
your hands miss the leather
the warm body heat of the car
thrumming up beneath you slams
your head into the dashboard where
the light turns from a bruised yellow to a crippled red
you are awake again
the steering wheel is cooler than you remember
smoother, sleeker, stealthy the wheel
will turn the predator around in a circle because
it seems to mimic itself where
in mimicry it is found
oh tyger tyger simmering out
you drive.
the gear shift does not obey when you
push it up rough and messy but it
locks in gear while you
wrap your fingers around the curve
and grind to a halt in the road
you cannot make this cliff.
the light in the dash blinks.
the trunk is opening and the vehicle is still moving
you roll down your window to ask the night a question in the glazed white of moonlight that is
so much like forgetting
_will this road take me back to Del Sol and the Girl Who Lost Her Lover on Route 66?_
she doesn't respond but
that is okay because the vehicle is still moving
and the leather is slick between your thighs
and you are going down
tonight you will descend.
the night will draw you home.
goodnight lover.
Dec 18, 2018
Dec 18, 2018 at 8:00 PM UTC
[Click]
…
*"Welcome back to Story Hour on PBS. Today we have a very special guest, who’s going to read us a very special story. Do you kids know anything about Greek Mythology? No? Well, you’re gonna learn some today. Everyone… say “Hello” to Bill."
“Hiiii Billlll”
“Now, children… he can’t hear you…”
“HIIII BILLL–”*
Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future sees;
I am the Dean
of Cosmic Beans
That grow to poetrees
Then every man will ever clime
to he that sits upon
atop this rhyme
this mythic vine
Dwells the giant Albion
The giant of the sees,
his jealousea and fierce
bid him to seize
an Odyssey
assisted by a Circe
Circe, in play, did then, inturn
the shipsmen of his Highness
and with a Feast
did tern to beasts
not one of them a tygress
As Circe distracted with the beasts
Did Albion then turn
He stole the Fleece
from Circe’s niece
and left it to the terns
The terns, in turn, interned at sea
did little to digress
flew fleece of ram
into the hands
of swift and mighty Tigris
From Milton’s tale of sim’lar tree
that of Eve and Adam
With fearful sea
and symmetree
The Tyger ate The Lamb
*“The Tiger ate the Lamb?”
(crying)*
[Click]
Jun 13, 2012
Jun 13, 2012 at 6:04 PM UTC
Tyger, Tyger,
burning bright
Like a lantern in the night
Who prowls slowly in the dark
Leaving not a single mark
He growls gently in the deep
Sighs to entertain some sleep
Shape and silhouette undefined
But are doubtless in my mind
To belong to that one creature
With strip-ed face and whiskered feature
Eyes that pulse and glow untold
Simmering with melted gold
As they stare and scrutinize
From mighty haunches he does rise
His massive paws and gleaming teeth
His dark lips will soon unsheathe
Like gleaming daggers polished white
Smiling bold in deep delight
Of finding company this late hour
Some small snack soon to devour
His body tense with animation,
Tail flickering with agitation
A coiled trap that’s set to spring
With a jolt and sudden fling
He jumps and runs past in a slur
Former countenance in a blur
Sprinting round with crazed emotion
Faster he spins in frenzied motion
‘Till the Tyger seems to vanish
As if some unseen force did banish
And all that remains is golden honey
Smooth and sweet, the color sunny
I gasp at this mysterious change
A curious sight, awing and strange
I ponder, profound in meditation
Wondering of next morning’s salutation
If this is all that it will take…
To drizzle on my next pancake
02/08/11
Jul 10, 2012
Jul 10, 2012 at 4:58 PM UTC
It’s time for a rhyme
I hear you chime.
It’s time to hit the beat.
We’re ready to dance
Without a glance,
Pick up those Tyger feet.
Those drums do thump,
Dancers grind and bump,
The party’s in full sway.
Don’t feel like strolling,
Just want to be rollin’
In the scattered hay.
Them guitars are twanging
I’m really panging
To twirl you round and round.
Some like to fight;
I’d rather dance all night
To that raucous rebel sound.
Let’s go.
May 28, 2014
May 28, 2014 at 1:55 PM UTC
The Tyger that was burning bright,
Came down to seek an opponent to fight.
When he stumbled across a grassy field,
In order to see what opponents it would yield.
After hours of searching he found a little lamb,
Not quite the opponent that was part of his plan.
He challenged the innocent lamb to battle,
After all Tyger had defeated large great cattle.
The lamb got up and said this was a mistake,
We were both created by old William Blake.
To fight you would be to fight my brother,
I suggest peace and love for one another.
And so something strange happened that day,
Two different songs came together in a way.
One of Innocence and Experience,
A new song born from both - Existence.
Jul 26, 2014
Jul 26, 2014 at 9:38 AM UTC
Tyger Tyger burning bright in the forest of the night
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy perfect symmetry.
In what distant deeps or skies burnt the fire of thine eyes
On what wings did he aspire
What hand dare seize the fire.
And what shoulder and what art could twist the sinews of thy heart
And when thy heart began to beat what dread hand and what dread feet.
What the hammer what the chain in what furnace was thy brain
What anvil what dread grasp dare its deadly terrors clasp.
And when the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears
Did he smile is work to see?
Did he who make the lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright in the forest of the night
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy perfect symmetry.
~ William Blake
May 8, 2017
May 8, 2017 at 6:09 PM UTC
These 4 walls, the only friends
The hours tick away, but swelling
Winter, hurry — freeze my blood.
Sweating through these supine steps,
I'll stumble on.
A/C buzz, electric hum.
The room lit yellow, bathing jaundice.
Fante & Hamsun.
Folding pages, scratching dog ears.
furrow brows.
**** this color paint."
**** the Summer."
I say it, always.
4 new walls, my only friends.
The seconds boil away, but slowly.
Solitude, please freeze my blood.
Snowfall in my reptile dreams,
all serpentine
Heater hum, alone again
Wish they wanted my chanting voice, now.
Footfalls hustle. Frozen, crunching.
Clothed in funerary coat
The wine explodes.
Shake this thrumming midnight buzz,
and rooms lit dimly, sweating blizzards.
Trudge & debate Blake —
—use my degree for ******* something._
Shoulders hunch.
"Just me. In falling snow."
_"Tyger Tyger, burning bright—"_
Here I stand, a dwindling flicker—
_"In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fires of thine eyes?—"_
—I can barely see tonight. And thicker lines
have failed to lead me home.
Alone.
And kindred with the cold.
Aug 16, 2025
Aug 16, 2025 at 10:51 PM UTC
It cannot be
that we are
child of the sea
and not the star
Look skywards
in silent wonder
with silent words
and not here under
Who sings to the dawn
when night is gone
not tyger or fawn
and not fish or prawn
Come back home
the stars do cry
from heavenly dome
and not airless sky
Lift your eyes, if you can
and see the stars that glow
that's our mother land
and not here below
Dec 15, 2010
Dec 15, 2010 at 5:29 AM UTC
My rendition of Blake's "Tyger Tyger":
-JDC
Tyger Tygre, burning bright,
Beast of darkness in the night;
Pure immortal skin and sight,
How to define thine fatal might...
Where in far lows or distant highs,
Scorched the burning in thine eyes?
Whereby oh how doth he aspire?
Who dare challenge the power of his fire!
And what shoulder and swift art,
Could trash the fibres of thy heart?
And when thy blood began to beat,
What deadly hand and frightened feet?
What new steel? And rusted chain,
In what hearth, thy rotting brain?
What the molten? And what hold,
Dare spark a soldier oh so bold,
When the Lights denounce their fears,
And drench the hallows with corrupt tears:
Did he grin his soul to see?
Did maker of the made make thee?
Tyger Tygre, burning bright,
In dark depths of deepest night:
What infinite curse or dye,
Dare fault thy monstrous symmetri?
Dec 2, 2013
Dec 2, 2013 at 11:42 AM UTC
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp?
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered Heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did He who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake
Mar 30, 2013
Mar 30, 2013 at 11:08 PM UTC
swim awayswim away
paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
caught in
screens of
black
forest trees
paper tyger
burn
the night
swimaway swim away
paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
burn
the woods
burn
the woods down
burn it all
but keep me
alive
keep me alive
keep me
alive
i will eat
the moss
out of
your sinews
keep me
a life
living off
of stardust
and of mildew
keep me
keep me
embers flicker
embers flicker
i will eat
the ashes
of your
heart
burn it all
burn it all down
don't let me
fade away
paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
fill the sky
fill the sky
with glories
from your
lanterns
burn the night
burn the light
paper tyger
burning bright
swim away swimaway
Aug 8, 2018
Aug 8, 2018 at 3:34 AM UTC
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Feb 23, 2014
Feb 23, 2014 at 7:55 PM UTC
evol-u-shun
by michael r. burch
does GOD adore the Tyger
while it’s ripping ur lamb apart?
does GOD applaud the Plague
while it’s eating u à la carte?
does GOD admire ur brains
while ur praying IT has a heart?
does GOD endorse the Bible
you blue-lighted at k-mart?
NOTES: In the segmented title “evol” is “love” spelled backwards. The title questions whether you have been shunned by a "God of love" or evolution. William Blake’s famous poem “The Tyger” questions the nature of a Creator who brings lambs and tigers into the same world. Keywords/Tags: god, love, evolution, coronavirus, plague, tyger, tiger, lamb, predator, prey, brains, heart, bible, K-Mart, blue light special
Apr 7, 2020
Apr 7, 2020 at 6:04 AM UTC
whose stripes
mimic
prison bars
behind which
a man is on fire.
Jul 7, 2012
Jul 7, 2012 at 11:48 AM UTC
evol-u-shun
by michael r. burch
does GOD adore the Tyger
while it’s ripping ur lamb apart?
does GOD applaud the Plague
while it’s eating u à la carte?
does GOD admire ur brains
while ur claiming IT has a heart?
does GOD endorse the Bible
you blue-lighted at k-mart?
NOTE: In the segmented title “evol” is “love” spelled backwards. The title questions whether you/we have been shunned by a "God of Love" or by evolution. William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” questions the nature of a Creator who brings lambs and tigers into the same world. Keywords/Tags: god, love, evolution, coronavirus, plague, tyger, tiger, lamb, predator, prey, brains, heart, bible, K-Mart, blue light special
Apr 4, 2020
Apr 4, 2020 at 12:50 AM UTC
Gently nudge or better shove
Push me into tomorrow
From blissful blessed Nirvana
Empty head and hollow
Sound bubble drone flight
Bent bludgeoned never loved
Bend time till tomorrow
From restful dreaded medication
Full of shine and shallow
Waiting for the whipcrack stripmine
Vaudeville blue light favorite
Poke the carcass with a stick
Cut from cloth of felt
From the hearts of the Feltmen
Trapped in Gormenghast
Or doomed Hagedorn
Seasons change our sole entertaining
Reasons vain our Souls rearranging
Feather duster birds take flight
In deep forests of the night
Flee from the Tyger's malicious eye
Have a slice of this delicious pie.
Sep 21, 2014
Sep 21, 2014 at 8:23 PM UTC
You were an intellectual jewel
a glittering phenomenon in the sky, some disturbance of space-time
in which all things were knit together in a subjective pattern
and so tightly pulled together that light reflected from every facet
in turn, as you spun, like a windmill,
like a tyger
frightening in your perfect symmetry
in which every stripe was a symbolism
and every red a cleansing fire
which purified everything it touched,
or touched it.
The love I felt for you was first of pity,
for you did not know what it meant to feel,
and you had few friends.
But in time I grew to love you properly,
for your complex simplicity
and your ethereal strict beauty.
And I thought then,
that even if you could not return my love,
it was enough to look at you.
Jun 22, 2017
Jun 22, 2017 at 9:10 PM UTC
*Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And, when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?*
Jan 15, 2016
Jan 15, 2016 at 6:43 PM UTC
Tyger! Tyger! pants on fire.
Pants on fire, burning bright.
And what chain, & what art?
What the sinew? what the ****?
Markov! Markov! chains on fire.
On what wings does he aspire?
And what hand at a rapid rate
Dare ‘em hastily generate?
In the forests burning bright,
In the distant deeps and skies.
Lo ‘n’ behold! what a symmetry!
Did he smile his work to see?
Tyger! Tyger! pants on fire.
Pants on fire, burning bright.
And what chain, & what art?
What the sinew? what the ****?
Python! Python! Monte Carlo,
The chain order is so low.
Product placement detected!
Your PC may be infected!
May 5, 2019
May 5, 2019 at 3:22 AM UTC