Elvie Caves Today's translation slightly tired play very general

Ailwee Cave

“It is believed that the Irish brown bear went extinct around 2,500 years ago due to deforestation and loss of habitat to agriculture. It is possible that the bears survived here until more recent times in the mountains and last remaining pockets of forest.” WildIreland.org

Ten thousand years ago a bear settled half a mile

into the earth to sleep undisturbed.

Behind a locked gate to distance tourists

the bones remain, arranged neatly in display,

encircled by under-land scents of pelt and rust.

Ten thousand years ago bears settled deep into the earth,

shape-shifted into memory by the tender form of sleep—

now absent of dream-shadows leached from claws and teeth.

Behind a locked gate to distance tourists, bones arranged

and artfully bleached to conceive an attraction,

what remembrance clings to a history of pelt and tooth

thousand years past when this bear entered a cave

to escape catastrophe? Or, what memories cling to fatigue—

that slow slide of a weakening heart from age, from hunt,

now locked behind a gate to distance tourists?

Though bruises bleached and bone-shafts patched

of jagged holes, the pulse of heart turned to dust and stone,

a thousand years ago a bear settled half a mile into earth

protected now behind a locked gate to distance us all.

Elvie Caves

"It is believed that about 2500 years ago, Irish brown bears were wiped out due to habitat loss caused by rampant deforestation. Or maybe there are still surviving brown bears hiding in the mountains and scattered forests, surviving to this day. ” WildIreland.org

A brown bear ten thousand years ago,

Push up the daisies

Buried half a foot underground

The gates are sealed and inaccessible.

The skeleton is attached and neatly displayed

The hair turns yellow, rusty,

The breath of the underground came over me.

Leaving only the body of the dreamer,

Let people reminisce about their past whereabouts

It was awake for a long time, and its fangs and claws were gone

The doors are sealed, far away from the hustle and bustle

The skeleton is rearranged, decolored,

Just to make people think,

When the brown bear stepped into this cave

What scourge is it to escape?

What memories of his fur and teeth left behind?

Or maybe a memory holds its heart, that aging, tired heart

That heart that ages and hunts old, tired,

Gates are blocked and kept away from dusters

The old wound had healed, and its bones were covered with jagged holes

Its pulse and heartbeat have also turned to dust

But I still remember that a brown bear was buried ten thousand years ago.

The gates are blocked and away from the hustle and bustle