Where Does the Big Bear Sleep

Where does the big bear sleep
after the sun goes low on the horizon
and the oak leaves have fallen golden in the fall?

Where does the big bear sleep
when the snow piles thick between rocks
and heavy on the branches of the forest?

Where does the big bear sleep?
Does its heart beat more evenly
as it dreams a feast of manzanita berry?

Does the big bear snore in its lair
warm and hidden and curled tight
in its thick brown coat of pine needles?

Does the big bear have an alarm clock
that knows the Spring sprouting of the grasses
and the unfurling buds of the dogwood?

Where does the big bear sleep
when all around comes an emptiness
not unlike the cold that comes nearest to morning?

Where does the big bear sleep,
in its big bear cave buried deep
in the imagination of man?