Black Bear, Pt. II

In the woods, in the mountains
We begin another chapter
Still more to be gleaned
From the essence of the black bear

Because the black bear has a presence
Which to witness is a gift
To receive it we must open
Like a clearing in the mist

And here comes black bear now
Emerging from hibernation
She's not alone, she brings the future
The next bear generation

Two cubs timid, amid the brambles
Stumbling into being
Blind when born, but now behold
The majesty of seeing

A purity of openness
With everything to learn
Let the bears remind us of a grace
To which we may return

And the black bear lives for living
And to keep her cubs alive
She doesn't take or hurt more than she needs
In order to survive

Why is it so hard to change?
What insistence does it take?
I trailed the wisdom of the bears
The distance to the lake

And when she gazed
Across the water
I saw her as
Mother Nature's daughter

And from that same mother
I am her brother
For at least that moment
We saw each other

The kinship cut me to the core
And turned me inside out
All the ways we've failed her
Are too many to count

But the black bear doesn't fault us
She has no concept of blame
Nor can she forgive us
Our trespass and our shame

The fact is we have taken
Much more than is our share
In so doing we have broken
More than we can repair

I'm older now and wiser
With a lot less time to wallow
No more seeking out self-pity
Instead examples that I can follow

The qualities that cast the spell
Will be the same to lift the curse
Resourcefulness and imagination
But this time in reverse

And the black bear lives for living
And to keep her cubs alive
She doesn't take or hurt more than she needs
In order to survive

And why is it so hard to change?
What insistence does it take?
I trailed the wisdom of the bears
The distance to the lake

And the black bear lives for living
And to keep her cubs alive
She doesn't take or hurt more than she needs
In order to survive

Why is it so hard to change?
What insistence does it take?
I trailed the wisdom of the bears
The distance to the lake