"Polar Bears" by Mary Soon Lee, Frequent Contributor

Polar Bears

Mary Soon Lee

"We saw the polar bears,"

I answered, when asked

what I had done with my day.

     

And I could tell

that my questioner

was unimpressed,

he whose life rushes

from deadline to deadline.

     

But no words came to me, then,

to explain:

how we sat pressed up to the glass

in our winter coats,

our bottoms slowly growing

cold as the rocks

across the blue water,

and not a bear in sight

as I fished out

one picture book

after another

from my backpack,

reading to you,

and waiting, waiting

for the bears to come out;

and then the moment

they emerged onto the rocks,

unhurried,

your fingers round mine

as you watched for three minutes

before losing interest,

so we left

before they even dived into that deep blueness

the other side of the glass;

and all the things I might have said

if you were older --

about global warming,

habitat destruction,

the caging of creatures

who roam mile upon mile

over the ice,

wild,

all left unsaid,

but my heart shining

because of you,

how you make the small things

large.

Poet's Notes: First when my son was little and then when his sister was little, I would frequently take them to the Pittsburgh Zoo. This poem is about visiting soon after the zoo opened a new polar bear exhibit (pictured). My daughter Lucy was two years old; both of us were excited, and Lucy was patient while we waited for the bears to actually appear. This was one of many occasions on which Lucy turned what might have been merely a small happiness into a great joy.