GRIN AND BEAR

(Flickr photo by HBarrison)


We argued in your truck
Out on the road.
I can’t remember
The subject, only
A welcome interruption:
As you flashed
Your hot blue eyes at me,
A black bear came
Scampering out of the woods
Into our path, oblivious
To us as you, the driver,
Were to him. I lay my hand
Gently on your thigh. “Look,”
I said, in a quieter voice
Than either of us had been using.

You did. You saw.
As if feeling
Your eyes on him,
The bear looked up at us.
Startled, he jumped straight up
Into midair, like some old
Cartoon character – all four paws
Left the ground at the same time.
He turned and scampered
Back into the woods –
And that’s
The only verb for it;
Delicately, like a romping lamb.

We both
Forgot our argument. We’d both known
That this area had bears, but neither of us
Had seen one before.
We shared a grin, and drove on
In delighted silence.
I left my hand
Where it was.

-- © 2009 by Jack Veasey

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