Bearskin

In defence of you, I will go to the authorities. I will stand before them trembling and unknowing, called stupid, and worse, called crazy. I will stand before them in the blizzard, the shards of icy snow blowing from them to me. I will be shaking, cold, alone but I will look into their steely eyes, stand before their erect, correct bodies, stand alone with nothing and no one behind me. Buildings tower behind them. I will stand strong and vulnerable. I will stand in your defence.You are my world, the world, the future. Our hope. There is no bear skin other than my own to protect you. In this place where misunderstanding grows on air and ignorance blooms like algae and bacteria in tiny boxes, you are like a lovely gardenia, illuminating, curved, delicate but hardy. They will try to put you in the boxes because they cannot see; they are blind. You are our hope.  And I will stand in your defence. I will stand in the wind and sleet and rain. I will stand in the rising water. I will stand alone in the storm to face them.  And you and I can watch together as the brown bear off in the distant mountains nudges her cub into the running river.