For A Bear, Barely There

For A Bear, Barely There

He crawled inside
to hibernate
and reach his goal
of losing weight.
He missed the spring,
the summer, fall . . .
having eaten
not at all.
Another winter
swirled outside,
so he—
with overbearing pride—

lay right back down
and barely sighed.
At least,
he thought
before he died,
I tried.

— Jane Yolen, co-author of Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs