The Ggrrr Tyger

I went to London Zoo today for a works awayday kind of thing. I don't think I've ever been to London Zoo before but I decided I'd have a quick sprint round at lunchtime to see what a zoo looks like these days. Of course, it was damp and cold, gloomy grey sky and a light drizzle in the air, a day not to be wandering round outside. Unless you're a fabled Sumatran Tiger or Bearded Wild Pig.


In that last photo the tiger was pacing back and forth, back and forth, restlessly, endlessly moving. What a magnificent creature.

'The Tyger' by William Blake

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 sieze 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?