Ode to a bear
Dear Editor:
This poem can be sung to the theme from “The Beverly Hillbillies”:
Come and listen to a story ’bout a bear in a tree
A cinnamon-colored bear that is staring down at me
There’s a cinnamon-colored bear way up in a tree
And he’s really, really, really, really scared of me.
I asked a forest ranger to come and see
The cinnamon-colored bear way up there in that tree
He looked in the tree, then he answered me
“That is a cinnamon-colored black bear
Way up in that tree.”
He said “The bears were here long before you and me
They like to eat berries when they ripen on the trees
If you look around you’ll see we built this town
Smack dab in the middle of the bears’ feeding ground.”
So keep your own food away from the bears
Protect yourself and protect the bears
Then we can live with the bears all around
We’ll eat our food and they can eat theirs
That’s the end of the story ’bout the bear in a tree
He finally climbed down then he wasn’t hanging ’round
If I ever do see another bear in a tree
I’ll know why he’s there and I promise not to stare
He is a cinnamon-colored black bear
Species ursus
He can weigh over 400 pounds.
Susan Anderson
El Jebel

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