You are a Polar Bear

Snow falls upon us

the flakes are not calm

and you are lost

I am the master of the map

the one thing I can control

is the trail we choose

---

You’re complimenting my skills

my proficiency,

how I seem to know

exactly where I’m going

I know only where my skis turn

in reality, I am lost

---

And as we relax in that giant wooden lodge

the compliments come

I am “brave”

Thinking of the mantra I needed

I can only cry in wonder

at the strangeness of this quality

to be ascribed to be

(November 1st, 2006)