By Thomas Davis, after reading a poem by Standing Feather
I saw the great bear in the forest,
noisily rambling through the brush.
Myths were flaking off black fur
and floating into the air
as eternity kept receding into the sky
just out of reach of what was floating
upward, away from the bear.
The sky darkened, daylight to dusk,
dusk to a night sky
flowing silver with the Milky Way overhead,
the song of the stars a silence
spread over the earth in glory.
Then I saw the bear in the sky,
small points of stars,
once a beautiful maiden
that angered the goddess Hera,
now a constellation shining in the heavens.
The forest danced,
trees shadows lengthened by starlight,
leaves and branches fluttered
as the night wind blew softly,
softly beneath the great bear
rambling overhead in the sky.
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