Why Bear Has No Friends

One summer,
Bear woke from hibernation late.
He was peeved,
and none too pleased spring didn’t wait.
“I’m the king of spring!”
Bear had the pride to say.
“The chipmunks and thrushes
should have nudged me awake!”
(Bear was very vain and blamey that way.)

The beasts and birds and trees
hadn’t much missed Bear;
in fact they’d all been pretty pleased
he wasn’t there.
When Bear began to bellow
and rant and yell,
the birds and beasts were sad;
the trees were sad as well.
(Bear was cranky, and enamored of himself.)

Bear grumbled outside
into the summer day
to find Sunflower sprouting
at the mouth of his cave.
“Egregious!” Bear roared,
“Get off my soil!
That’s my square of dirt
since time immemorial!”
(Bear was loud, and very territorial.)

Bear bossed the smaller beasts,
“Stomp Sunflower low!”
The animals refused,
so Bear stomped all alone.
Much to his frustration,
the seeds stuck in his hair,
so as he stomped, he spread Sunflower
here
and there
and everywhere.

Bear next bullied the birds,
“Peck the stems in two!”
The seeds looked tasty though,
so instead, they pecked the blooms.
But the clever seeds
began to spiral ‘round
until the birds got dizzy
and they all fell on the ground.
(Bear was left to pout, grumble and frown.)

Bear drew the conclusion
that nobody but he
could dislodge Sunflower
off the property.
He’d use his mighty claws
to raze their leaves and roots,
and leave the land on which they grew
barren, wrecked and ruined.

Bear began to dig
and gouge and scrape in rage;
he dug so much he surfaced
on the Serengeti plain!
Groups of birds and beasts
he’d never seen were there,
but Bear was
the only
lone
solitary
bear.

Ostrich spoke boldly,
“You seem to think you’re strong,
but here we know,
alone, nobody lasts so very long.
Also?…
your fur’s unbearably mundane;
you’re going to have a bad time
attracting a mate.”
(Bear was not amused by the big bird’s wordplay.)

Bear was so embarrassed
by his African mistake,
he slunk into his hole
and made his way back to his cave.
When he arrived,
he was quite chagrined to find
he’d been gone so long,
he’d missed hibernation time!

Spring had come to life
without Bear yet again.
And that was not the only thing
that set Bear’s head to spin…
horizon to horizon,
more than last he’d seen,
sunflowers were all around!
The beasts and birds and trees were pleased.

Bear slumped in his cave
to childishly pout;
there were now too many blooms
to stomp or peck or dig them out.
Bear had tried to bully others
smaller than he;
instead he found them stronger
in their sovereignty.
(Thanks for the lesson, prideful Bear, in irony.)

And that’s the ancient tale
of why Bear has no friends.
It happened long ago,
long before the world we’re in.
The beasts and birds remember,
but we people forget.
So let’s strive to be mindful,
because Bears will try again.

Lee DeNoya - Taos/Atlanta, Jan ‘22/Jul ‘24

Art - by the creator Fluke on raw pixel