Large Fierce Mammal

Father Thomas and the Bear

By LFM

Father Thomas crossed the sea
With righteous blazing soul,
In search of heathen sinners,
Whose salvation was his goal.

A month of sore privation
Found him standing on a strand
Wherefrom a forest primal
Stretched across a trackless land.

T’was there he met a people
Who were naked, wild and fey.
Whose life in Nature’s harmony
Was NOT the Church’s way.

He dwelt among the heathen lot
For nigh on thirty days.
He bade them hide their nakedness,
And end their sinful ways.

And wroth was Father Thomas
When he learned the people there
Held holiest of holies lived
within that one called Bear.

Such blasphemy could not abide
Before his righteous sight!
As servant of the One True God,
He’d put this wrong to right!

He learned that twice a moon it was
An offering was made,
Of meat to honour Brother Bear
Within his holy glade.

So Father Thomas hid his wrath,
Enwrapped in faith sublime.
Resolved to exorcise the beast,
Good Thomas bided time.

And so it came to pass that he
Did step into the glade
To stand before the Bear just as
Next offering was made.

“Spawn of Satan! Get thee hence!”
Was all he got to say
Before a paw but tapped his head
And sent it on its way.

The head of Father Thomas
Bounced across the forest moss.
What faced him was no cross to bear,
Nor any Bear to cross!