Black Bear
On a lake wreathed
By morning mist and trees
Impassable and deep
As eyes, I surprised
A black bear
Drawn to the water
Like me, a ghost
A darkness alive
And rippling, shaking diamonds
Off its fur then slipping away
Under trees sagging down
Like the cracked eaves over
Haunted houses - disappearing back
To beginnings, shifting and settling,
Unknowable except for chance sightings
And glimpses, flashing white
Teeth, then flowing back like water
Like glass un-shatters after
A stone.