November 29, 2011

only the bear can tell

I didn’t see it at all, coming back to the house, the hulking body
motionless at the far corner of the yard. Were it not for the dog, let out
for a late-night run, I would not have known it there, quiet as it was on the grass.
But then a battle of barking began, and the animal rose on its legs and made as if
to attack. The dog was gathered quickly back inside, but it was hard to pull myself away.
For a moment, we both were still, this wild thing and I, exchanging a stare of curious
uncertainty, our collision in this plot of neighborhood an interspecies accident.
Only the bear can tell what he was doing there, exactly, but I can say
I was looking at everything I hadn’t quite made peace with.
His eyes were glinting in the dark. The choice was clear. I locked the door behind me.