Tygers, Tygers!

O sweet moon, guide them near—

Let the tygers find me here!

Let their teeth now be my bed and

Soon enough my heart they’ll hear!

Come young tygers, on this night,

Fill me up with tales of fright.

Alone we crawl along the shore—

I couldn’t see you anymore.

Tygers, please, I’m begging you,

I’ve given up, no more to do!

Or am I a tyger too?

My heart beats fast, this much is true.

You’re so cold and far away—

For him! They all scream on this day.

I offer up this throat of mine,

No resist give I this time.

And of course, it’s all in vain!

The tygers will not come again.

They’ve been my friends for far too long,

I thought they’d help but I was wrong.

Tygers, tygers, please do this,

I’m a target you can’t miss.

These beasts are mine to understand,

They keep me up, won’t let me land.

It’s all the night and all the day,

I promised I would stay awake.

But I cannot, and I don’t know,

Is there a place where I can go?

O sweet tygers, go away.

Today is not your day to play.

Keep circling my camp today,

You can have no reason now to stay.

But here they are, the fight begins.

I cannot let my tygers win!

They know me well, know all my sins,

But I’ve been taught to not give in.

Oh but you, you sordid ghost.

You’re the one I miss the most.

Your soul is here, and I’m his host—

It’s hard to see when he’s so close.

My mind has wandered from this place—

It’s you I see, your listening face.

And now my fists are put to waste,

Because I can’t keep up this pace.

I love you—there it is, now leave!

If you’re gone, maybe then I’ll breathe.

And O what a tangled web we weave,

When two of us find common need.

And so it goes, the stripes are here.

Spectre that I know, now disappear!

One look at you I’m lost to fear

Of nevermore having you so near.

I should fight and push them far

But I’ve left the door so much ajar

To wounds and fears I know to mar.

This is what’s left of love’s memoir.

So catch me, tygers of the night!

This crime is burning oh so bright.

Your fears are here, but out of sight,

Now hold me down; there’ll be no fight.

Here I am, O tyger friend—

My dreaming days are at an end.

I care not now what you intend.

I give up, O tyger friend.