"THE PANTHER" - Rainer Maria Rilke - Translated by Ernie Crist;

His eyes are tired from the endless passing of the bars, nothing more
exists.
To him the world is a thousand bars and beyond those bars there is no
world.

The strong and supple steps, smoothly and endlessly turning in his cage,
are like pent up energy dancing around a centre in which there stands
benumbed, a mighty will.

Only sometimes, in silence the pupils' curtains open, a picture enters,
in stillness passes through the tensing limbs, goes to the heart and
dies.

Photo taken at the Greater Vancouver Zoo last week by Lesa Iberra