BEAR SIGHTING

A windbreak of trees, thick with leaves,

In the light bending heat of summer,

Obscures what ambles along a gravel path

Beside the mowed, lime green field;

Blots out all but small, murky shadows

Of an unfamiliar shape that slinks

In and out of sight as it passes by

The gaps between the trees.

Shuffled, the broken shades resemble a

Prehistoric four-legged animal drawn on paper,

Fleshed out skeleton fossil,

An animated movie character walking across

A Jurassic Park stage set in

A triumphant return to nature’s

Wood-cleared paths.

Ambling in and out of sight before

My brown eyes can connect a shadow and an image,

Before my mind can remember a similar shape and size,

Before my mind can assign a name and a set of memories,

My ears perk up and my eyes stop blinking,

Engulfed with alarm and curiosity, motionless,

As squirrels and birds freeze soundless.

A photobomb near the end of the day,

Meekly clearing the windbreak and

Standing on all fours, headed for a garden,

Not Faulkner’s Old Ben, not a legend,

Not a child’s story bear,

Nor a dancing circus bear,

But a bear, nonetheless,

Wandering down from the mountains.

©cmheuer, 2019