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ONLY A BEAR

Still I remember,
Though now I am older,
One day in September,
As weather grew colder.
I stood on the rocks
Of the mountain, at peace,
To watch for the hawks
And to listen for geese.
The sky was so clear
And the moon was so bright.
I decided that here
I should camp for the night.

I watched the clouds gather
Up high, on the summit.
I thought I might rather
Be much farther from it.
And then the wind blew
With the force of a gale;
It was all I could do
To stand tall on the trail.
With the ground as my bed
I could hear the wind cry,
While yet, overhead,
There were stars in the sky.

Next morning I climbed
Till I got to the top.
The wind gave no sign
That it ever would stop.
And so I descended
To lakes down below,
And as the day ended,
I thought it might snow.
As I did not mean to
Be caught in a storm,
I camped in a lean-to
And kept myself warm.

With the floor as my bed
I could hear the rain pound
On the roof overhead
And outside on the ground.
I could hear a log break
In the forest somewhere;
There could be no mistake:
It was only a bear.
His footsteps drew near
From his home in the wood,
And I knew he came here
To eat all that he could.

This bear turned out to be
Awfully polite;
He only bumped into me
Once in the night.
He reached for my pack
And he dragged it outside,
Wanting to snack
On the munchies inside.
I heard a loud tear
In the woods, in the dark,
And I knew that the bear
Had just torn it apart.

Next morning, while cussing,
I peeked out my head.
The bear had left nothing
But carrots and bread.
The campsite was soggy,
The valley a flood;
The trails were all boggy
And deep was the mud.
The mountains all looked
As though veiled in a shroud;
So I followed a brook
To a lake in the clouds.

Two campers had come there,
A boy and a girl,
From a city somewhere
For to see the real world.
They asked how my pack
Came to have such a tear;
I answered them back:
"It was only a bear."
They shrieked and they wailed
And they ran through the wood,
Climbing the trail
Just as fast as they could.

I could not stop my laughter,
Though little I tried;
And I soon followed after
To act as their guide.
They complained of the rain,
And the bear, and they cursed.
I tried to explain
That the bear was here first.
If they did not like it,
They should have gone home,
And left me free to hike,
And the bear free to roam.

San Diego, California, 1995