Long ago in farest ends
A peasant and a bearess were friends
They shared all troubles and all good,
And their friendship was all truth.
But once the bearess was very polite
And decided her friend to invite
To come to her abundant fiest,
Where man would celebrate with beast.
There was a lot of food and wine;
The human ate and drunk as swine;
For her the hosting was a pleasure;
The bearess was as friend real treasure.
And on the other day the bearess asked the peasant
If something in her home was too unpleasant
The peasant said he didn’t want to make her sad,
But something in her home smelled very bad.
The bearess took a knife and hurt her paw,
Some weeks and months went ago,
She asked the peasant once to test
If from the wound there was some rest.
He checked her skin with greatest care
And in the end he told the bear:
He saw no scar and felt no flaw
On the skin or muscles of the paw.
“No wound leaves such a painful trace
As words which lack respect and grace.”
© Tanya Guleria 2024-01-28