The Bear That Was Not Here

At sunset

The bear

Walks a straight line

Along the edge

Of the woods

And the garden

And across the street,

Ambling onward

Bothering nobody--

Though the parents

Of small children

Seem bothered,

Offended by his audacity

To go from there to here 

And on….

The bear is silent,

Looks neither this way or that,

Takes nothing,

Leaves no footprint.

Out of the winds he comes

And back into the night air.

There is power in this bear

Who was never here.