The Orange bears with soft friendly eyes
Who played with me when I was ten，
Christ， before I'd left home they'd had
Their paws smashed in the rolls， their backs
Seared by hot slag1， their soft trusting
Bellies2 kicked in， their tongues ripped
Out， and I went down through the woods
To the smelly crick with Whitman
In the Haldeman-Julius edition，
And I just sat there worrying my thumbnail
Into the coverWhat did he know about
Orange bears with their coats all stunk3 up with soft coal
And the National Guard coming over
From Wheeling to stand in front of the millgates
With drawn4 bayonets jeering5 at the strikers？
I remember you would put daisies
On the windowsill at night and in
The morning they'd be so covered with soot6
You couldn't tell what they were anymore.
A hell of a fat chance my orange bears had！