he feels a man's voice moving through the darkness
of his brain.
the voice rests then becomes a laugh.
the laugh feels like a bright human
preparing sandwiches for a day hike
the bear, in the form of a young boy, joins the the voice and people who have been his good friends
since unknown periods of time, for the day hike.
the boy feels good climbing the mountain
and does it in record time for someone his age
when they eat lunch at the top there are tourists to laugh at
in the canoes on the way back,
the boy realizes he must return to bear form
he stares into the mysterious water for a prolonged period of time
he forgets this fact,
when a stern man holding a hammer
follows their canoe from a dock nearby
with his head.
the eyes look like caves.
as the bear lies in bed incidents from the day unfurl
and hang on a laundry line, like white sheets
he doesn't pause to consider it totally bad or good