Transient — Summary

Dave BontaCheerful

a little rain the bear passing through town needs no advice

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Three short lines give us a quiet scene: rain falling lightly, and a bear walking through a town. The bear isn't described doing anything dramatic. It simply passes through, and the poem seems to admire that.

The key line is the last one: "needs no advice." People are usually the ones handing out guidance, warnings, and opinions, and the poem suggests the bear has no use for any of it. It knows where it's going, or at least it moves with a calm that doesn't depend on anyone's approval. The title, "Transient," adds to this. The bear is only temporary here, a visitor in a human space, and it doesn't seem troubled by that.

The speaker's feeling is hard to pin down, but it reads as gentle envy mixed with respect. The mood is hushed and unhurried, like watching something wild slip quietly through the ordinary world while the rain softens everything.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss