Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHANT TO A WERE-BEAR, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHANT TO A WERE-BEAR, by                    
First Line: "were-bear, why are you not in hell?"
Subject(s): Animals;bears;mythology - Native American;native Americans;superstition; Indians Of America;american Indians;indians Of South America


Were-bear, why are you not in hell?
Are you too evil for Het-gwau-la-na?
On my neck is this amulet—See it well!
A great bear's tooth to charm you away.

Ai! If you follow my faithful squaw,
Twins she may have, if she sees you now;
In this Laughing Goose Month she must hide away
In the Newborn hut by the willow bough.

I shall paint my face with a red bear paw
And dance in the light of the flowing flame,
If thou art but sent by High Sha-la-na—
Morning and night I shall call thy name!





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