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There's a place where raggedy old Teddy Bears go... |
Teddy Bear Hill by F.X. Keenan There's a place where raggedy old bears go when seams are broken and stuffing flows all over the floor in a messy pile and the glue has failed on half of a smile or a sad bit of thread is all that's seen where a big button eye had proudly been and little hands no longer cling with love to such old and raggedy things. *** Near a pond full of lilies shaded in birch stands an old granite gateway shaped like an arch and through it a pathway, worn hard and bare from all of the feet of the bears that went there. Amid dogwood and alder and hemlock it snakes then straddles the cattails of Teddy Bear Lake past a meadow of rye where the Penny Birds trill all of the way to Teddy Bear Hill. **** More of a mountain to a little bears eyes that craggy colossus which climbs to the sky with whistling winds which rustle the elms and ominous drones from shadowy realms gnarled grey outcrops with stark silhouettes of the Harpy's which wait for a raggedy lot and higher than all but the circling crows a cloud shrouded peak of pearly white snow. **** No blame at their worn out feet could lay if the raggedy troop just turned away. Instead, with the pass of an anxious lull a puppy chewed fellow in overalls or some battle scarred brute with scarcely an ear and lines from a heater burned into his fur or a silk bow-tied dandy with stapled on lips becomes the first little bear, to take he first little step. **** Amid steep rocky passes they amble and hobble atop rubble and ruts they teeter and wobble traversing the rapids of Teddy Bear Brook evading crude crannies and sidestepping crooks across windy rope bridges which swing to and fro over boulder strewn valleys, far, far below and each time a Harpy swoops in for a chance walking sticks raise in undaunted defiance. **** They fight every frozen flake blinding the way and squint through the dwindling light of the day the worst of the lot are left finally to crawl or are carried by comrades, but the bears one and all though thrice yet as ragged as before their ascent further disfigured and unspeakably spent by teamwork and grit and unbreakable will reach, one and all, the top of that hill. **** A thick oaken door in a cobblestone dome opens to a stairway carved in the stone circling and circling in a soft yellow glow to an ancient and cavernous room below there, in a ring the ragged group gather and clasping their little bear paws together begin an unusual kind of sleep a sleep that is very, very deep. **** Hours pass by with the caves only sound drops from stalactites pelting the ground As the bears dream of honey, and sunny skies fluffy warm pillows and butterflies little green tadpoles and waterfalls big wool blankets and most of all the feeling the hug of a child would bring before they were old, and raggedy things. **** About the last point, something strange or even magic, who can say afoot within the gauzy light has brought a change within the night It's there to see when they wake and yawn and stretch their paws to the brand new dawn The bears aren't like they were before In fact, to a bear, they are ragged no more! **** Eyes and noses lost for years on fresh scrubbed faces now appear. Gone the frays in felt and gingham snares in wool and tears in denim Engineers are back on track in red kerchiefs and big striped hats A kilt clad Scot surpasses bonny: his plaid pristine and bagpipes shining **** Heroes fly with brand new capes little sailors now ship-shape pristine corduroy, lustrous fur where splotches, stains and patches were broken zippers and splitting seams likewise mended as they dreamed Indeed, somehow, each ragged bear is now quite perfect, everywhere. **** Then from within comes a different call and they leave that mysterious cave and hill to highways and where the back streets wind passing those bears still facing that climb 'stay strong', they implore 'and you'll make it too!' and with faith, these words will indeed come true. Yes, first comes faith, then the grit and the will That's the best way to climb Teddy Bear Hill! **** But how do the get to Paris and Oslo? Braintree near Boston, and greater Toronto? Hong Kong and Frankfurt and Kalamazoo? No one can say, but somehow they do. With their spirits renewed and love pulling the way there isn't a place that's too far away All over the world, in each city and town they find sleeping children, and softly lay down. The End |