JUNE 9, 2020

I Meet Bear

#TuesdayFantasies, DreamStories

 

When people think of animal allies, Bear often comes to mind. Being a strong creature, Bear sometimes challenges people to muster inner strength, or tame uncontrolled impulses.. But Bear also appears as a healer and protector.. This is how I met Bear for the first time. I never saw a bear in real life, not even in a zoo, but I will never forget the one who appeared to me in a dream one night – silent, invisible, yet immensely comforting.

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I entered a large empty room - a gymnasium perhaps - high ceiling, bare walls, polished blond wood floor. But in this dream space there were no bleachers, nothing at all in fact, except for a few cardboard packing boxes stacked halfway up one wall. More likely a warehouse of some kind, I thought. There were no lighting fixtures, only a dim natural light coming from the large picture window opposite the door.

 

A large box made of dark brown wood occupied the center space. Its sealed wooden cover protected some important contents, I felt sure. As I approached, my fluttering stomach told me something was amiss. I walked over to the window and looked out. To my amazement, I saw the building had begun to rise. It was adding floors below the one I occupied. Already four floors high and moving fast, it would soon reach its maximum height. I sensed it was preparing to take off and float out into space. Dizziness and fright gripped my innards. Muscles tensed. What was I doing there? My stomach churned.  I turned back toward the door, looking for an exit that would lead me back to solid ground.

 

Just then the latch on the large wooden box sprang open, the cover lifted, and out stepped a black bear. He was not large, about my height. I was certain it was a male, though why I’m not quite sure. He was standing with his side to me, looking at the row of packing boxes on the wall in front of him. He remained motionless, making no effort to turn in my direction. At first, I thought he wanted me to step into the box and descend into some other dream world where he had something to show me. I walked to the box. Looking in, I saw it had no bottom. I could use it as a portal, but this seemed not the time to undertake a journey. I felt Bear observing me and suddenly I understood. He had come to introduce himself and let me know that I could count on him for comfort and support in time of need.

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The walls of the room fell away, the boxes disappeared, Bear was gone, and I found myself standing on one square of a room-sized calendar, black lines demarcating each dated, white-tiled cell. I woke trembling from the shock and fright of this mysterious dream. Gradually, puzzlement drove away fear and I began to wonder about the significance of those large calendar tiles. Reentering the dream, I looked more carefully and saw the calendar was current for the month in which the dream occurred. And then I saw Bear’s gift - a tiny image of himself in the corner of each tile. He’d left this small reminder of his constant presence - an emissary from the dream world in my everyday life. I wrote this little piece of doggerel as a thank you note.

 

WALKING THE CALENDAR

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I walk the calendar day by day,

The presence of Bear guiding the way,

Staring ahead with nothing to say

Yet letting me know in his own private way

That his vision and strength keep danger at bay.

I walk the calendar day by day.

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