I'll wake before the salmon pass
Ten foot more and nothing moves"
I am not a native speaker so I just may not interpret it as it should, however for me it seems that just for a second bear hopes to think that it is just a dream, from which he wakes up as if it was the end of winter. "I wake before the salmon pass". But in the nick of time he realizes that he is not dreaming, but passing away in ten more feet.
My favorite line are the last two:
I'll wake before the salmon pass Ten foot more and nothing moves"
I am not a native speaker so I just may not interpret it as it should, however for me it seems that just for a second bear hopes to think that it is just a dream, from which he wakes up as if it was the end of winter. "I wake before the salmon pass". But in the nick of time he realizes that he is not dreaming, but passing away in ten more feet.