Rules to Rehabilitating a Tiger

#1. First- The tiger must realize that the cage is gone.

When raised in captivity and used to confined spaces
a tiger will pace the same square footage
even when there are no bars to confine her

This may be the hardest part of all
Convincing a broken, neglected creature
that there is nothing to fear any more
is a monument to itself

But once this is accomplished
the pressure of the sky and the wide open spaces
may send her seeking refuge
shadow
cover
familiarity
Anything to get her away from the wild unknown

She doesn't know that she's a tiger, you see
And under the power of handlers,
seeing a black-and-white world through strips of a metal,
her perspective is skewed
off
limited

The world can see she's a tiger
But she cannot

Not yet anyway

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