"Room to Roam"

  by Phil Knight

 

Muscles roll under silvertip fur

Her walk is both shuffling and sure

Searching for roots, grubs and berries,

An occasional squirrel she harries.

 

Two playful cubs tag along

Growling a young grizzly’s song

Watching their mother for example

What she eats they’re eager to sample.

 

She’ll protect them as well as she can

From dangerous bears or from man

She’ll teach them the ways of the hills

And encourage their natural skills.

 

But the cubs’ very future is clouded.

By humankind they are being crowded

Will they always find room to roam?

Will we leave them a wilderness home?

 

‘Cross the West the bear once wandered

But her habitat’s been squandered

By the creature that calls itself wise

and is but a quarter the grizzly’s size.

 

Wide country and wild she needs

for safety from vile human deeds

To roam unhindered and free

and pursue her own destiny.

 

Humankind now owns most of the West

and it seems that our race will not rest

‘til we’ve plundered every square acre

Not a giver; always a taker.

 

Can’t we leave room for another?

For the grizzly cubs and their mother?

For the wolf, badger, eagle and bear?

For all that lives wild out there?

 

This planet is not ours to ruin

We share it with feline and bruin

With forests, with insects, with birds

With life wonderful beyond words.

 

Keep it WILD!  Keep it GREEN! Keep it FREE!

Open your eyes and see

We are playing a dangerous game

For the Bear’s fate and ours are the same!