Autumn repays the earth the leaves which summer lent it. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

 A bear came to dinner;

He ate before the bell,

He didn't use his napkin,

I am here to tell.

He didn't cut his steak,

Neatly; with the knife,

And licked his mashed potatoes

Off the plate- it was not quiet.

He didn't wait for prayers,

He didn't pass the bread-

But balanced it, most perkily,

Atop his brown-bear head.

His manners more atrocious,

Than any I have seen;

But heavens, I'm so grateful

He didn't just eat me.

-Patti Masterman