Two Poems

By Mary Oliver

Watching a Documentary about Polar Bears Trying to Surve on the Melting Ice Floes 

That God had a plan, I do not doubt.

But what if His plan was, that we would do better?

===============

Black Bear

Now comes black bear into the field.

His mouth hangs open just a little.

His bulk twitches in the long grass.

–

Listen, black bear, I say:

Do you get it?

We have created cities!

We have weapons you will not ever imagine,

        or understand.

We build machines that fly, that

        plough the great waters.

–

Bear’s eyes flicker. His nose pinches the air.

He does not care what I say.

He does not hear even a scrap of it.

He is listening only to the perfection of his own life.

–

Oh, black bear, soften me with your immutable disdain.

–

“Black Bear” and “Watching a Documentary About Polar Bears Trying to Survive on the Melting Ice Floes” by Mary Oliver. Copyright © by Mary Oliver. Published with permission of the author.