by Fegger

Created on: March 06, 2009

The Hunter's Story

The smell o' fern a-drip with dew,

Is the spicy scent o' Spring.

Mossy, un-kept beards on Ash

Face North the compass ring.

Wood soldiers left to tip an' die,

And melt in earth again;

Will foster offspring in accord

With fingers grasping rain.

Alas, I be, warm breath I see

In puffs I strain to rise;

As steps, stagger tween the dead,

Up-stir the collar-flies.

The eye of Day seers mists ahead

As East'ly is my path.

With bow and steel tied bout me

I live my epitaph.

My bride, a patient, honest lass

Awaits my hunter's take.

Fed me linings of the hog,

A' morning I did wake.

With mash-ed beans n curry grains,

N' sorry-tea to drive

That wicked combination churn,

N' foul-up inside.

I tried so, set a pace to be

Faster than backwinds approach

Wrapping evil scent from me

Gone, my hopes to poach.

I'd must rid myself of ling'ring cloud

If game be mine today.

So I took a likely mushroomed perch,

And fancied needed stay.

No sooner did I wrap my boots

With my britches pulled below

That I heard a tramplin' just behind

Where laurel tangles grow.

Still- I was, frozen stiff

Beggin' bowels to comply

Til I come to know the beast

Who's come to pass me by.

Aye, sweat was droppin' on my thighs,

Me teeth nearly passin' air

As I looks behind me, noticin'

My company's a bear!

E asn't seen me I'd guessed,

Snout grunting toward the sun.

Curious not to where I was but

Concerned in what I'd done!

I sensed he dropped to fours a'gin

Heard him wander near.

Then felt the tepid nostril wind

A-puffin' on me rear!

I dare'nt move, I dare'nt breath,

I dare'nt pass no more-

That rancid, spoiled meal I'd et,

Now puddled-forest floor.

Pretendin' I was marble

There suspended cross the trunk

With bottom-side cantered out

To protect it from the stunk.

Chilled I was, just sittin' humble,

A-scared that awesome bruin,

Would choose to me a better taste,

Than what he had been choosin'.

Then my eyes did open up

When I feared the most unkind:

That bear had followed stenchers up

An' was a'lickin' me behind.

Treat me like the comb, I say,

A trunk that drips o'honey.

Let me tell ya' this, my mates,

Fear like that ain't funny!

Still I sat, so still I sat,

As he lapped me nice an' clean.

Then turned my pupils like the owl,

View nothin' I'd ever seen.

That bear, he rolled, that bear he moaned,

Across the sticks and leaves.

He whimpered like a tom in heat

A' suffrin' from the deed.

My chance was here to tarry off

So I snapped my britches high.

Then one quick look to see my foe,

A' where, and if he lie

His movin' ceased, his body still,

Eyes rolled deep into his head.

That bear who braved my wife's prepare

So suffered, now he's dead!

So that is how it came to be,

That my bride should have this stole.

Thick and furry, warm it be,

Without a single hole!

Now changes in my home since then,

My wife an' I made deals.

She does all the hunting now

And I cook all the meals

Learn more about this author, Fegger.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.