The Soft Goodbye of a Mountain Bear

He woke to the hush of a mountain thaw, Where snow gave way to pine and claw, The breath of spring in the alpine air, Stirred the long slumber of the highland bear. His coat still thick with the sleep of frost, Not knowing yet what he'd gained or lost, He sniffed the wind with a gentle grace, And lumbered down from his shadowed place. The creek sang low, the sun cast gold, The world, once icy, now warm and bold. He moved like dusk through the melting white, Drawn by hunger, drawn by light. But the forest's edge was not the same, A ribbon of danger blacktop flame, Where speed and steel meet fur and bone, And wild hearts walk this path alone. On Highway 14, the silence broke, A screech, a thud, then rising smoke. No hunter’s cry, no cub’s soft call Just the stillness after a sudden fall. Now he lies in the morning haze, A monarch felled in the modern maze. And the pines bow low in the April breeze, As ravens circle in silent pleas. For not all who wake from winter’s keep Will find the spring they dreamed in sleep. The highway roars, but none may hear The soft goodbye of a mountain bear.