Bears in the Wild

 

Bears in the Wild

Lily runs, each day, three miles. 
She’s in love with a boy who is farther 
by a thousand miles.

We’ve hauled her on family vacation 
to a cabin on Lake Chelan, Washington 
where there is no phone. In fact, no road. 

We walk a trail to Stehekin, the town.
Lily insists she sees bear tracks
and I insist they are dog tracks
explaining some dogs have large paws.

We meet a bear. Near Hazard Creek. 
A she-bear. Not aggressive, 
nor particularly impressed by us. 
We are very impressed by her. 
She walks a wide arc around us, 
pausing to relieve herself, perhaps an opinion, 
and then ambles on toward town
like a simple fact of nature
that cannot be stopped.

It is Lily’s birthday. 
She was born outdoors under a pine tree 
next to a cow pasture lit by a full moon.
From such a beginning she will go 
to med school, become a doctor. 
Of course we don’t know this yet, 
only that she is no longer ours.
In the wood stove Rose bakes 
an ersatz angel food cake. 
For candles we light little twigs 
poked into the top. Indulging us, 
Lily blows them out, all 17.

From the cabin I watch 
as she wanders down to the dock. 
Gazes up at the almost touchable stars. Sings.
She’s looked at clouds from both sides now.
Clear through the dark her voice carries 
easily to the cabin. To the owls in the air, 
to the bears in the forest.
To a boy far, far away. 

…..

First published in  Sheila-Na-Gig. Thank you editor Hayley Mitchell Haugen

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