Seven-words Poem "In the Year of the Tiger"

何威廉

Seven-words Poem

In the Year of the Tiger

By William He

An alluring throne adorned with flourishing feathered ferns,

Richer colour and amazing stripes perpetuate olden myth.

Twill shakes the woodland when the paws go thump-thump,

A coal of fire the glowing eyeball burns when a tiger walks.

After growling the evanescing existence and fleeting fame,

Jackal's eyes turning raindrop clouds when the lord leaves.

Magnetism of whiskers and teeth pinning admirer stealthily,

Sniffing the Smiling Spider with Apate in the deeps as well.

七律

虎年说虎

作者：何威廉

穿林深谷传栖迹，

对月斑斓衬浅黄。
王字叠纹伸五爪，

金睛烁电顾三方。
山君明日将归息，

狐兔今时且作伥。
休说谋皮惊落胆，

蔷薇细嗅钓迷茫。

Notes:

“The Year of the Tiger”: The year 2022 in the Gregorian calendar is designated the Year of the Tiger. Tiger is the third of the Chinese zodiacs.

“A Tiger Walks”: A 1964 family film, directed by Norman Tokar and produced by Disney. A tiger escapes from a circus truck as it passes by a small town, and hides itself in the surrounding woods. This throws the town into a panic and everyone wants the animal killed immediately, except for the daughter of the sheriff. She wants to capture the tiger and put it in a zoo, thereby saving the tiger's life.

“Jackal”: The Tiger and The Jackal. Appearance can be deceptive. Mahabharata talks in detail about this valuable adage.The moral of the story is that it is very difficult to put on a fade for a long time. The jackal used his crafty ways to become the king of jungle but he could not help his real nature and hence was soon discovered. One should never try to put on fake masks for sooner or later you will be discovered.

“The Smiling Spider”: A Symbolist Charcoal Drawing created by Odilon Redon in 1881. It lives at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Some of the imagery in Redon’s art of his noire period is infused with bizarre and grotesque characteristics bringing to mind the art of political caricature, which was thriving in Europe throughout the nineteenth century.

“Apate”: Apate was the goddess/personification of fraud, deceit, trickery, deception and guile. She was one of the evil spirits released from Pandora's Box. Apate is the child of Nyx, the ancient goddess of night before the Olympians took over, and Erebus, the ancient god of darkness.