I Thought I Saw A Dancing Bear
Truly hollow are his gaping jaws, his pride softened, numbed,
A constant glare beneath the harsh, white sun-
The shards of rhythm that broke the sky, into his ears drummed.
They had tugged and eased his yellow claws,
Plucked each one from a splintered heart.
And now he dances with wide open paws,
A dead weight pulled from the rolling cart.
A crooked hoop does so quell his breath,
Drilled the iron lock does he judder in bleeding ache.
He knows not of dancing, but yearns for a thing like death,
Knowing not of black, but the longing to not awake.
Set upon a scarlet sheet, he groaned for rippling pools,
To suffocate the morrow's dew, and breathe the mountain rain.
But here stands he, lifting his feet, circles of copper loved as jewels,
No rain, no shadow, but a travelling display, all on the end of a chain.
I thought I saw a dancing bear, lifting his feet in time-
To a simple beat of stamping feet-
And I knew not of his crime.
Truly hollow are his gaping jaws, his pride softened, numbed,
A constant glare beneath the harsh, white sun-
The shards of rhythm that broke the sky, into his ears drummed.
They had tugged and eased his yellow claws,
Plucked each one from a splintered heart.
And now he dances with wide open paws,
A dead weight pulled from the rolling cart.
A crooked hoop does so quell his breath,
Drilled the iron lock does he judder in bleeding ache.
He knows not of dancing, but yearns for a thing like death,
Knowing not of black, but the longing to not awake.
Set upon a scarlet sheet, he groaned for rippling pools,
To suffocate the morrow's dew, and breathe the mountain rain.
But here stands he, lifting his feet, circles of copper loved as jewels,
No rain, no shadow, but a travelling display, all on the end of a chain.
I thought I saw a dancing bear, lifting his feet in time-
To a simple beat of stamping feet-
And I knew not of his crime.