A bear was in a wood

And nothing bothered either

And maybe nothing could

except hornets and homework

The bear collected honey

The girl did what she should

And neither was unhappy

And both of them were good

allowing for a fanciful anthropomorphism

But they were in a story

(though noone told the bear)

In which he must be single

And she have auburn hair.

so there were flies in each’s ointment

And one day she went walking

And in some bosky place

Neath spreading oaks and chestnuts

The two came face to face

each year several people are eaten by bears!!!

Her sister, who stole porridge

And broke an infant’s chair,

Had jumped out of a window

When woken by a bear,

tell THAT to the children..

But she was realistic

(with still a sense of fun);

Of one thing she was certain:

A bear can’t be outrun.

an adult bear can reach 40 mph

Then what exactly happened

Is not for me to say

But girls need must be women

And bears will have their way

( —  )

And blackbird isn’t saying

What maybe blackbird saw,

But bear went homeward grinning

And she went homeward sore.

grazed her knee climbing a tree?

Now who are in the gardens?

And who are in the woods?

And what is in the nostrils,

And what is in the blood?

Bears, girls, brimstone, mayhem.

Of oats that another Bear’s sown

May do it secure in the knowledge

Another will soon stir his own:

For Goldilocks’ type isn’t picky,

Unwilling to use a strange spoon,

Nor wonders while getting it sticky

Who else may have just, or might soon;

sufficient to each is the sweetness,

untrammelled by shouldn’ts and shoulds,

while breakfast retains its completeness,

and nobody fences the woods.

The donkey looks at all he sees
With doleful face and, stoic, sighs.
“A fig, Dull Ruminant!, for bees
While there is honey!” bear replies.

Eeyore observes the world’s decline
With something not unlike despair;
“Sad Thistle-Eater: weather’s fine,
The larder’s full!” retorts the bear.

Eeyore’s prevailing mood is gloom
And sorrow for the human race
But Eye likes lots of lebensraum
And can’t resist a pretty face.

Both heretics: the donkey doubts
The probability of grace;
“Attend, Sad Beast!” the other shouts
when love is spotted taking place.

And when young persons in the wood
Ask either of the friends the way
The gray one bleakly shakes his head,
The brown invites the girls to play.

Eeyore considers Ends and Means
And meditates on Higher Things
Eye studies nubile hikers’ jeans
And, as he swaps the signposts, sings.

The donkey’s cell is cold, austere
And subject to Improving Falls;
Bear’s got a bed that three can share
And trophies decorate his walls.

The donkey Thinks Of Others First
And tries to help those out of doors;
Eye hints obliquely at his worst
And casually shows his claws.

Eeyore believes the future’s black
And counsels shelter from the storm
But bear has turned his duvet back
To keep a pretty lost one warm.

Eeyore the donkey, Eye the bear,
Upon a single planet live,
And that which can be shared they share,
And that which cannot they forgive.

For Hero and Leander
could hardly manage this,
while Abelard and Eloise
could barely blow a kiss,
and Romeo and Juliet
had one brief night of bliss;
but you and I, my love, with luck
may long henceforward love.

Our parents’ and our previous
relationships suggest
that optimism, carefully
considered might be best;
so put your paw in mine, and let
Dame Fortune do the rest,
as we companionably go
towards the final snow.