When a chill crisp breeze wisps along in meadows with spring showers

And the birds and the bees are much too young to flower

When the warmth is much too north and even further east

When the pale blue summits peak out of misty morning steam

And float up like new souls that stream from old beast

When every crease on a man's face is worthy of songs sung by Redwood trees

At sunset a bear meets a new friend

Natural enemies the honey bee prepares to sting

But the bear only sits bearing witness in peace

So instead of diving the bee just hovers in place

The bear says thank you for your patience with me

I was just admiring your most magnificent comb

The bee was very skeptical still he lowers his guard

And he says forgive me my new bear friend

But most of your kind just want to loot and destroy my home

The bear says yes I know and I respect that point of view

That is why I left my family when I was a small cub

I wanted to make a new life and live by my own creed

To never harm another living thing out of my own greed

Well then, said the honey bee now I see

You are the most exceptionally nice bear I have ever met indeed

The bee moved by this story responds with charity

The very type the bear was hoping to inspire

He said Mr. Bear let me go and bring you a sample

Of my brothers and I's succulent honey empire

So the bee hurries into the gold catacombs

Of sappy ooze over wax walls with a malted syrup flavor

The bee breaks off as large of a piece as he can carry

But when he reaches the light of an early moon

He notices the bear hunched over and leaning on the tree

Why do you grimace and look in such pain

The bear removes his brown paw from his hide

And the bee sees a shattered arrow lodged in his side

With a wide flow of red soaking in

Matting down the dark fur around the wound

And rolling down to the dirty ground

Where a pool of blood sat much bigger than the bee

The honey bee say's a single arrow can't possible kill a creature of your strength

The bear slouches in the rock and roots

And in a grizzly whisper the bear simply says it hit my heart

And now I leak out my zest for life

Like when your hurt after giving up your stinger to protect your hive

But my noble worker friend I will not be slain for an act of honor

Such as your swarm in flight nor did I serve a queen or build a home or feed a friend

You did all these things in your short life

And that is why this bear stopped to indulge himself

By meeting one last friend before my death tonight

The bee not comprehending such beauty in the wild

Say's please my friend tell me how you arrived at such a dire situation

Well, you see you view me now as no threat

But most living things fear eight hundred pounds of claws and teeth

Much like you at first glance no one gives me a chance

And I can't blame them I know the trepidation my father's roars brought to strangers

He would pilfer the camp grounds and some bears even maimed children

So no, I can't claim I would have acted any different if a predator was near my cubs

It was merely an accident that I strolled by a dwindling fire

And I was struck from a shoot across the path from behind laundry wire

I ran through brambles and vines until the shaft of the arrow had broken

I wish I could have stayed and sat with this man and talked as you and I have

But in nature it's natural to run or fight when stunned or startled

So I hold no ill will toward the man

I am simply happy to have met you my yellow and black insect friend

As the bee buzzed in open airspace

He slopped the comb so the honey could trickle into the bear's mouth

A drop of honey lay on the bear's pink lips, he whips his tongue to savor it

And then a shiver grips and travels up the bear's spine

And his hazel eyes shut and the spirit of this great bear transcends the Earth

The bee's wings sputter and his emotions flutter

He lands on the bear's lifeless vessel with a wheezing cry

Spilling the golden nectar of the God's

Onto the bear's shoulders and it slips down onto the gash

Then the bee starts to chant "Zizza-tiza-biz-wiz-gez"

It was an uncomprehendable orchestra that spun like dandelion's in air

Then the clouds parted and the kings and stars shined upon

The bee stood as a statue on legs much too small to support stone or pelts

The bee clinched his feet and raises his antenna

And with all the force he could muster lifts the bear off the soggy road

Who knows where the bee stored this muscle

Some say in that honey was a brute's power granted by ancient southern pines

The bee kept his ears to the mud and faith in the gathering skies

But with his wings determined he flies the bear to his families cave to spite his strife

On this long flight that took most of his life

The bear's body was placed at the foot of those savage mammal's door

And because this bear was graced with understanding, courage and freewill

The bee hoped the other bears and woodland animals might lick the sweetened cut

And being anointed by the delicious amber magic would incite a forest of goodwill

The soul of this remarkable bear may seep into his family and friends

And one day cause a miracle to settle into the woods

Starting from the undergrowth changing the minds of the hunters and their kill

Knowing if you want to be remembered as a saint, you can not die as an evil beast

And every moment from seed to dust in the wind

You must strive to be humble and succeed

That's the only way motley critters in jungles to under seas will ever believe

In the kind speech of a bear that hopefully did not die in vain

But the honey bees still gossip he was the last of a dying breed