Suppose there were a bear and a man. The bear

Knows his kin—old pebbles, fifty-five—

Gallon barrels, big pine trees in the moonlight,

Abandoned down jackets; and the man approaches warily—

He’s read Tolstoy, knows a few symphonies.

That’s about it. Each has lost a son. The bear’s

Killed by a trap, the man’s killed by a bear.

That boy was partly drunk, alone in the woods.

The bear puts out black claws firmly on earth.

He’s not dumb. Skinned, he’s like a man. People

Say that both bears and men receive a signal

Coming from far up there, near the North Pole.

The old grandmother of both bear and man

Sits netted among the stars, looking down.