Fragment #A of "Bier's Thorn"      for Ali  my Racoon Lady

Fragment #A  of  "Bier's Thorn"



not so long ago
and very close by
there once was a trapper
and he resided in a land filled
with mountains and lakes
each day he worked his traps  
in the water's shallow
across the river from the patch of brier

and a lot of different things in his life
had turned him a hard man
plus his livelihood wasn’t easy
since his net took the life of his pray
but it wasn't just his trade
that made him hard
it was the patch of lover's brier
over the river that had calloused his  heart



his heart had not always been this way
the trapper remembering the years
when a warm breeze
came from the thistles
and the flowers tossed their pedals
over the brier's fence
pollen of the thistle enhancing
 the illusions that everyone has
enticing the young dreamers
for dreams of lover’s lane
their hopes dancing in their heads
all of his friends and lovers
entered though  lover's gate
looking for lovers lane
or at least to wander the paths of love
in the maze of all the lovers trails

the trapper himself had ventured
down the paths of lover's brier
holding hands looking for lovers lane
as dangerous as it was
paths through the
 the brier patch itself
was not fatal
but the thorn’s wound was

and he had been lucky
to escape a fatal cut
and to escape out
of the backside of thistles gate
the river side of the patch
the side this traps were on
and some he had know had
though the gate  
those that emerged
in lover's brier brier's maze
with their wounded hearts
venturing into the lover's brier
to stay in the brier was fatal
and those making it outside
their wounds will never heal




but the brier was anger
because it did not like to give up
those that escaped
when a dangerous  breeze
would come  from the river brier
blown from the breath
of those smitten by the thorns

but even in dangerous winds
he still looked after his line
traps would be useless
unless he took care of them
even in rain


and his heart was hardened
more each day
he had to pass by lovers brier
on the way to his livelihood
and of  his daily life
forced to pass by the hearts
of who he knew
some on the barbs
on the overrun fences
 surrounding the brier
he feared because he was
 one of the few hearts
that had not been consumed in the thorns

fear made him a cautious
so there was no reason
for him not to know
especially on a day
with a strong brier's breeze
that he knew meant to be
suspiciously on guard
for any animal he had caught
whenever there was a breeze from the brier  
but today he thought it was something
something different then danger
drifting from the brier's lair





it was a rare unusual creature
wedged between the thorns
where new stalks reached out
from inside the overgrown fence
the young thorns were small
but they tightly held the creature
and when he first saw the sight
he should have knew it was fatal
just from the chill of the brier breeze

and not doubt he would have more aware
if the animal had been trapped in his snare
but he had only found the creature
wedged between a brier’s thorn