Tigers In Red Weather,
by Ruth Padel - © 2006
Ruth Padel, the
great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, is a prize winning British poet,
fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Zoological Society of
London, and chair of the UK Poetry Society.
She has taught Greek at Oxford and opera in the Modern Greek department
at Princeton, excavated Minoan tombs on Crete, presented a BBC series on Hans
Christian Andersen, and sung in the church choir of St. Eustache, Paris. In addition to her acclaimed poetry, she has
published bookson ancient Greek religion, rock music, Greek myth and
masculinity, and how to read contemporary poetry.
“ – vibrant, lyrical,
sad, yet in the end a spark of hope”, George Schaller, director of science for
Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, and author of The
Last Panda and The Serengeti Lion
Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool
Water, moonlight, danger, dream
Bronze urn, angled on tree-root: one
Slash of light, then gone. A red
moon
Seen through clouds, or almost seen.
Treasure found but lost, flirting between
The worlds of lost and found. An
unjust law
Repealed, a wish come true, a lifelong
Sadness healed. Haven, in the
mind,
To anyone hurt by littleness. A
prayer,
For the moment saved: treachery forgiven.
Flame of the crackle-glaze tangle, amber
Reflected in grey milk-jade. An
old song
Remembered, long debt paid.
A painting on silk, which may fade.
Ruth Padel
and in this great book
Ruth writes poetry in prose of her quest throughout the great world of Asia in
thick jungles, steamy mangrove swamps and mountain heights from India to Russia,
for that elusive animal once known as the soul of Asia, and for that elusive
need of human life for nature and wilderness with survival in and of it all.
