Laying out at the vista,
where water runs clear
where mountains peek through pine trees
The sky begins to blush
as the sun starts to set
You think about
how it’s been said
and observed
that bears have an
understanding of natural beauty.
They’ve been spotted
sitting and staring
for hours on end,
enamored by the view.
And as night falls,
You can’t help but wonder,
Do bears admire the stars?
Contemplation of our constellations,
a meaning to existence,
a pondering of it all.
Paws ache with fascination,
catching salmon by day
existentialists by night.
So here you are
alone with the night,
but then you look up
and remind yourself
that somewhere out there
lies a bear,
misty-eyed with awe
gazing at these very same stars.
Brigid O’Brien is a rising junior at DePaul University, studying English and Screenwriting. She loves her poems and stories to explore the “minutiae of life,” with previous work featured in JAKE Magazine and Applause Literary Journal. When she’s not writing, Brigid loves walking cute (slobbery) dogs and people-watching on the L.