Variations on a Chan Parable

There is the truth

And there is the tiger’s eye

There’s no way to see

The one from the other

The form from the mirror

All is reflected

Inside of the tiger’s eye

The sentry that sees

Through each camouflage

To the flesh underneath

There are no ideas

Except in the tiger’s eye

So purely it sees

The folly of others

Inevitably turning to meat

The forest and trees

Divide for the tiger’s eye

The death that it sees

The animals bow

The lord only growls

The top of the mountain

Goes through the tiger’s eye

That sees how the kind

Alpine goats are too high,

A thought that terrifies

You sprinkle your light

In front of the tiger’s eye

That seizes and sees

All colors but white

‘Til those you would reach are blinded

There’s nothing more just

Than the gaze of the tiger’s eye

With wisdom it sees

And logic it strikes

The string we call trust

There is no escape

From under the tiger’s eye

The way that it sees

Becomes what things are

The polar bear star

Wherever you go

There is the tiger’s eye

Sees all you do

You think it knows you

And you it

You never would guess

How it frames, the tiger’s eye

What you see to size

Eyeing its prize

What you love best

I gave Fanny over

For a shot at the tiger’s eye

Only to see 

That it never quite was

And my life was in error