<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><h1 class="yiv3230805612entry-title"><span style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><font size="4" class="">When the Bear Comes To My Garden</font></span></h1><div class="yiv3230805612entry-content"><div class="">When the bear comes to my garden<br clear="none" class=""> I will be ready<br clear="none" class=""> I will soak my body in olive oil and honey<br clear="none" class=""> I will wear nothing but sunflowers in my hair<br clear="none" class=""> I will sit surrounded by talking stones<br clear="none" class=""> I will let them speak for me<br clear="none" class=""> when the bear comes to my garden</div><div class="">When the bear comes<br clear="none" class=""> he will have a strong appetite<br clear="none" class=""> he will show white teeth sharpened on my history<br clear="none" class=""> he will make large footprints across the cucumber plants<br clear="none" class=""> he will trample down the well-turned earth<br clear="none" class=""> he will wash his strong bear scent over the whole garden<br clear="none" class=""> he will scare the birds away</div><div class="">When the bear comes to my garden<br clear="none" class=""> I will put down my poems<br clear="none" class=""> I will plant the trowel of my work deep<br clear="none" class=""> I will wait for his furred embrace<br clear="none" class=""> I will cry no more</div><div class="">When the bear comes to my garden<br clear="none" class=""> we will dance then<br clear="none" class=""> our voices rising like leaves borne aloft<br clear="none" class=""> our bodies swaying under an invisible net<br clear="none" class=""> he will press himself against me<br clear="none" class=""> he will be my last passion</div><div class="">We will fall earthward<br clear="none" class=""> down into the deep cave<br clear="none" class=""> forsaking metaphor finally<br clear="none" class=""> we will look at each other for the first time<br clear="none" class=""> home, he will whisper home, I will answer<br clear="none" class=""> we will hum like bees at summer’s height<br clear="none" class=""> in the morning when you find us wrapped around each other<br clear="none" class=""> we will already have disappeared into the stars</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Martha Courtot </font></div></div></div></body></html>