Because my belly aches for food and my cubs are crying, and
Even the smallest berries are gone,
All the food we need nearby, maybe
Rangers will let my babies live while they kill me for a crumb.
Previously published in The Weekly Avocet, Sept. 6 2020
Poem by Patricia Hope
Patricia Hope has won awards in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Tiny Seed Journal’s blog (9/7/20), Liquid Imagination, American Diversity Report, Maypop, The Avocet, Weekly Avocet, Plum Tree Tavern, Muscadine Line, and Southern Writers, as well as Mature Living, The Writer, Blue Ridge Country, and many area newspapers and anthologies.