Totoka River kehtolaulu

The night was quiet, even on the shore where the waves tossed against the sands relentlessly. The great wandering bear found himself trailing through the sands without reason to his direction, but the tug of what stretched beyond had lured him further. Each step was one that had his broad paws sinking into the granules of sand that littered the shore. His rich coat was spattered in salt and soft gold flecks that had clung to him as he had traveled. Lærke did not mind that the shore seemed to hold fast to his frame. His muscles swayed from side to side with each pressing step forward until he had come to something of an extraordinary sight.
 
Littered in pools on the ground was a galaxy of stars. His ghostly vision danced across the surface of the pools of water, but his steps had finally come to a halt. It was a spectacle of otherworldly beauty. Casting his muzzle upward, the bear peered at the sky above, only to be drawn back to that which was mirrored on the earth. Lærke had never seen such a marvelous sight in his life. The tundra had shared with him a rich array of dancing colors across the heavens, but the soturi had not been witness to the galaxies in the earth.
 
A short distance away, there was the soft voice of a songbird that had traveled to the coast in search of a temporary home. The lilting sound that fell from the bird’s mouth was sad and lonely, but it reminded Lærke of the lullabies that he would sing or hum to his younger siblings when they had been born. Lotte and Tove had buried themselves deep into his chest fur to feel the rumbling of his voice.
 
Seating himself in the sands so that he might gaze on the pools of stars, Lærke wore a soft smile that was coated in nostalgia. The quiet of the shore was almost melancholy, but the broad warrior sighed and found a hum in the back of his throat which quickly formed into song. The lullaby had been his favorite for the younger ones, and it had never failed to lull them back into a peaceful slumber on the coldest nights of winter. The moonlit wolves had listened to him sing many times on frigid nights. His father had always said that his voice brought warmth into the world. It had been a light in times of war.
 

“Nuku, nuku, nurmilintu
Väsy, väsy västäräkki.
Nuku, kun mie nukutan,
Väsy, kun mie väsytän”

 
The bass of his voice sounded into the balmy night air. It was ghostly against the crashing of the waves and the peace of night, but many of the songs had carried tones of sadness in them. For Lærke, it was a reminder of his home and of his family. The sonorous words had even elicited a response from the songbird who chirped quietly in the background of his lullaby. The bear did not mind the company of such a creature on that night. The stars still littered the pools on the sands, and he continued his song as he sat and observed all that passed around him. A peaceful statue in a sea of stars.