I feel like a bear waking

to no breeze, hearing 

birds, looking to the sky

with sleep-and-dream filled

eyes and the hesitation 

of any movement but that slow,

deliberate bear dance where 

the bear towers over everything 

except its shadow and the pads

of the paws feel that earthen

drumbeat and the heart picks 

up that rhythm that makes me 

grin that dangerous bear grin

as I close my eyes, sway, shuffle,

the smell of wild blackberries

not too far away as the song I 

sing in that low growl 

enters the air like a prayer 

I don’t care that’s ever answered.