Huff

I am in my mid 60s
With proper Hobbit-like
Routines but my wife wants
Me to drive with her to see
Where she volunteers at
An Austin animal zoo
Shelter in the rural
Our lands south
And west of the
Republic of
Austin.
I am walking
Around the as yet
Unopened zoo alone
Strolling past a stand of
Thick bamboo when I notice
A movement of a tail flicking
Then hear a huff sound as
I realize the tail and huff
Are a twelve foot-long
Tiger who is looking
At me quizzically
Making huffing
Sounds and
Only some
Bamboo
Trunks
Separate
The tiger from
Breakfast which
Is me if I panic and
Run so I saunter on my
Way to the HQ building
Where they tell me the
Bamboo trunks have
Steel stakes inside
And the huffing
Is a friendly hi
In tiger lingo
As I look a
Bit like
The guy
Who feeds
The tiger each
Morning but I think
The tiger could easily
Jump the bamboo fence
For a pre-feeding snack
Of a me who has had
Too many Hobbit
Breakfasts and
I muse on how
Perfect the
Tiger’s
Coloring
Is lying in wait
In bamboo camouflage
Huffing as I puff-puff
Up the trail blithely
Unaware tigers
May also like
A Hobbit
Breakfast.