What Bear has taught me...
Bear has shown me this land is rich.
.. It is a fine place to forage and get fat,
.... and a comfortable land to curl up for sleep.
Bear has an annual cycle for foraging;
.. succulents, roots and chipmunks in spring,
.. roots, larvae and early fruit in summer,
.. fall is for fattening with lots of fruit, roots, and meat.
I have watched Bear sweeping juniper berries
.. (they are really small cones) into his maw...
.... and they are indeed, amazingly sweet.
While Black Bear has short recurved claws,
.. suitable for climbing trees and shredding logs,
.... long gone Great Bear had stout straight claws.
I learned to duplicate Great Bear's technique
.. for digging couse, allium and yampah's.
.... Far more efficient than individual digging.
Some of Bear's proclivities are too much
.. for my more delicate sensibilities, though
.... I am fond of meat too, I am a bit pickier than he.
Perhaps Brother Bear is closer kin than seems,
.. for surely he lives richly off this same land
.... with foraging and adventure and down time too.
--r.anderson 31Jan2011
