Smoke burns across the lake’s surface
Chippewa legend says it was a forest fire
that drove the mother bear and her cubs
out from their den, into Lake Michigan.
The great, blue waters could have been the sea,
shaking crests and break neck currents—
the only solace from the flames.
The mother bear was strong. She paddled
without rest, to the bluff of the dunes.
She waited for her cubs,
staring out at the empty and unforgiving waters.
until weak from the glare of the sun,
she fell asleep, the sands covering her body.
One day the bear will awake in a fury.
She will shake the dunes off the horizon
and into the sky.
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