I am tired from sleeping in three foreign beds.

It is cold although there are many blankets.

I may have wandered into a house that isn't mine.

I have tried to eat porridge, but it's either too hot

or too cold or the bowls are the wrong sizes.

The same can be said for the chairs in this house.

There's an animal smell that lingers.

I cannot tell if it is bears I smell or not because

I have never smelled a bear.

The very thought saddens me.

I have also broken things that were not mine.

My heart is sick even though the sun rises again.

Hear me, my fellow wanderers,

despite my golden hair, I will fight no more forever

in this forest.


Explanation: While camped out at the library, came across a discard book,

Readings for Writers 1974, 1977, second edition in which I found on pages

399-402, Three Bears In Search of An Author by Dan Greenburg.

He wrote two short versions of the "Goldilocks story", one in the style of

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and the other in the style of

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. The suggested challenge was

to write another version. I chose to write my version in the style of the

surrender speech I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING

by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians.