Ruminations of a Bear on the Water

[LupTacco]

When I look upon the water,
    It is him I see, dressed in gold
And wreathed in leaves of fall
    By the shore, catching me fish.
And I am always full of hope.
    And he is never in despair.

But it's not to last, despair!
    My love lies - there! - under water,
Beyond the grace of my hope,
    And I lose those threads of gold
As they are eaten by the fish
    And I weep as away they fall.

I remember when I heard it fall
    And my heart sank into despair,
For I knew I hadn't seen the fish,
    But I could not escape the water
Nor could my ray of sunshine gold,
    And with our bodies sank any hope.

But somehow a scrap of dreadful hope
    Persists, stands and refuses to fall
Away like my lover's hairs of gold.
    Stubbornly I crawl closer to despair,
Callously I spurn the sheltering water,
    And the ghosts within of long-dead fish.

Oh, it isn't the fault of the fish
    Who swim wherever they can hope
To find some peace in shadowed water
    In pools where stones did not fall
Down. Sometimes I think they must despair
    To have caused the loss of treasured gold.

Some nights I see my lover's hair of gold,
    In his arms he brings me a gentle fish.
I tell it, "Do not, please don't despair,
    I forgive you for my lover's hair." Hope
Returns, and like the warmth of colors in fall
    I feel the gentle caress of sheltering water.

I can once again remember the thread of gold,
    How I draped it around to string together hope.

And I love the gentle gold-eating fish,
    How they follow my steps when I fall.

And I know when my time comes I won't despair,
    When at last I breach the final starry water.