And Tigers Come At Night

Yunnan Stone Forest - The Tiger

'Lord what do I look for? My hope is in You' Psalm 39:7

In late Oct 2009, when visiting the Stone Forest in Kunming, Yunnan, we chanced upon a rock formation that took the shape of a tiger. Immediately the song 'I dreamed a Dream' came to mind, with its haunting line 'but the tigers come at night'. The song is a lament; the dreams of youth, once ever so promising, turned to ashes with the passing of time and with it, the dawning of hopelessness.

The song was sung by Fantine in the musical 'Les Miserables'. She had a love affair with a student, Tholomyes but he deserted her, leaving behind an illegitimate child. She became a prostitute, a destitute so poor that she had to sell her hair and teeth to clothe and feed her bastard child. Her once growing love became a bitter disappointment.

Fantine was emblematic of the plight of women, their sufferings, social wretchedness and hopelessness during the days of their exploitation in 18th and 19th centuries. 

There was a time when men were kind

When their voices were soft

And their words inviting

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in times gone by

When hope was high and life worth living

I dreamed, that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream

I dreamed

In the Covid-stricken circumstances of 2019-present, many of us must feel that the tigers have come at night and shattered our dreams. It is not only the patients that are the victims. Many have dreams in life yet to be realised. Others are happy with life having achieved their dreams. Unexpectedly, the pandemic hit and disrupted everything.

  

It is not easy to face the ‘tigers’ and one should not wish for them to come a-haunting. If they do come, beware; despair can really break a person. Will we lose hope? Will we lose faith? 

St. Francis of Assisi once prayed, where there is despair let us sow hope. The Psalmist in Psalms 42 and 43 searched for answers and questioned the soul within, not once but three times. The answer is to put our hopes in God.

'As the deer pants for the water,

so my soul pants for you, O God.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him,

By day the LORD directs his love,

at night his song is with me.

How can we hope at such hopeless times? Christianity answers with the call to rely on God. When everything seems to be falling apart, we can

 

Rely on God's presence

Rely on God's provision

Rely on God's promises

Although the shattering of dreams can be devastating, take comfort in the words of Jesus in John 16:33  

'I have told you these things, so that in Me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.' John 16:33

Finally, 

'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer' Romans 12:12

Lionel

1st Published 3 Feb 2010