My mother saw a dancing bear
By the schoolyard, a day in June.
The keeper stood with chain and bar
And whistle-pipe, and played a tune.![](../sound)
And bruin lifted up its head
And lifted up its dusty feet,
And all the children laughed to see
It caper in the summer heat.![](../sound)
They watched as for the Queen it died.
They watched it march. They watched it halt.
They heard the keeper as he cried,
‘Now, roly-poly¡T’ ‘Somersault¡T’![](../sound)
And then, my mother said, there came
The keeper with a begging-cup,
The bear with burning coat of fur,
Shaming the laughter to a stop.![](../sound)
They paid a penny for the dance,
But what they saw was not the show;
Only, in bruin’s aching eyes, Far-distant forests, and the snow.![](../sound) |