BEAR

Gentlemen of the Committee, I crave your pardon
and a moment of your time. I choose a bad moment,
no doubt, but now no moment is good.

Gentlemen, I would bring to your attention
your municipal bear, who has lived in his pit for so long
in the heat of the sun, in your municipal gardens.

Think how he used to go, with his rolling gait,
up through the deep woods to the distant snowline,
the sparkling air, the rivers that flash in the sun.

Gentlemen of the Committee, as you sit
morose and despondent, you can hold back the dark
no longer. The sky is already fallen
on this doomed city. But, gentlemen, of your mercy,
I pray you, let go your bear.

Evangeline Paterson