The Antarctic Speaks Its Own Language
A poem
Wandering Albatross glide effortlessly
Accompanying our ship crossing the Drake Passage
Wings outstretched as they traverse thousands of miles
Crossing expansive oceans
Built for distance travel
Catching air pockets with acrobatic grace
Legend says they carry the souls of sailors lost at sea
Ten thousand ships at the depths below Cape Horn
My breath catches in my throat
Eyes slowly panning
A first look
I am in a new universe
Enchanted and restored
Dramatic skies frame the mist-covered mountains
Reflections ripple across the quiet waters
Icebergs float lazily, bumping into brash ice
Nature’s art expands across the Lemaire Channel
The White Continent is like no other
Harshest climate, largest desert, uninhabited
Less than two percent of the continent visible
Covered in snow and ice
Ice sheets hang precariously above the sea
Unable to maintain its grip on the land
Hundreds of thousands of bubbles break
They mimic the sound of a gunshot
An iceberg calves dropping into the sea
Resembles Table Mountain in Cape Town
Antarctica is a scientific goldmine
Buried deep in the ice cores
Millions of years of geological history
Sedimentary, lava, and magmatic stones
Lichen, algae, and grass brush strokes add color
Across metamorphic rocks
Creating landscapes of intense beauty
Often unvisited due to harsh conditions
With katabatic winds and swells 10 feet high
Spert Island with mighty monoliths
Reaching up from the ocean floor
Icebergs drifting among the ancient land
Fur seals lazily perched on cliff faces
Penguins porpoising in raft formation
The sound of a whale spout
I listen to Antarctica here in Spert Island
It is like no place else on earth
Majestically graceful
Tears well threatening to spill
An umbilical cord stretches between us
Connect me with Antarctica’s life sustaining power
Words are woefully inadequate to express what I feel
Brought out of my sojourn to Earth’s beginning
I hear a whale’s blow
I glimpse it’s tail fin sinking below the surface
I imagine the waters before exploration
Teaming with hundreds of thousands
Orca, Blue, Sei, Humpback, Minke, and Southern
How fortunate to see several species of whales
Observing them as they rest, dive, and play
Gentoos with their white patches that look like headphones
Migrating further south to expand their territory
Adélie well acclimatized as natives to Antarctic
Black head with the white eye ring
Chinstrap look cheerful
Upturned black chin strap stretching below the beak
Few move about with wings behind them for balance
Most stand still in their rookery
Conserving their energy
Enduring the moulting phase
Waiting until they are waterproof once again
Swimming expertly and feeding on krill, fish, and squid
Seals live harmoniously at the edge of penguin colonies
Except the leopard seal, a stealth predator
The wide mouth with canines
Ferocity and curiosity
One circles our zodiacs
Biting into one, not once but five times
Military designed and leopard seal proof
A chamber popped and, yet, it remains seaworthy
Seals litter the rocky edges and float past on growlers
Indifferent to the passersby
They lounge around stretching occasionally
Young males spar preparing to defend a future harem
I’m partial to the Fur Seals with their protruding ears
In the water graceful and playful
Cheeky, putting on a show
Elephant seals are unforgettable
In size and smell
Fondly referred to as OBS
Odiferous Blubber Slugs
A visible puff expelled
Burps and farts are equally toxic
Barely moving while they lie piled together
Moulting process is hard work
The birds are abundant and wistful
Flitting here and there
Perched high on the rocks
Whimsical flight patterns
Gliding on wind currents
Carrying my meandering musings
Dreams of inhabiting Antarctica’s wonderland
The backdrop for Antarctica’s animal kingdom
Ice, snow, more ice, more snow
Covering the mountains and valleys
Icebergs grounded in shallow waters
Only a fraction of its size visible above the water’s surface
Brilliant turquoise, bright white, black ice, and clear bergs
Statues crafted by the elements
A three peaked mountain, an ice skating rink, a giant wave
A kaleidoscope of contours, textures, colors
Antarctica fills my thoughts
Her sounds, her beauty, her promise to the plants and animals
To provide an environment only they can inhabit
If they are strong enough, resilient enough
To withstand the harshness and unpredictability
But, can they survive humankind
The warming of the world
The perfect desert no longer as dry
Unable to adapt quickly enough
Snow and rain kill animals when breeding and moulting
Food scarcity through overfishing and bycatch
Land formations change
Animals must travel further to hunt
I am called to be an Antarctic Ambassador
To participate in Citizen Science
To share my experience
To cause a ripple effect
Not to check a box to visit the seventh continent
But to understand Antarctica
And, to protect her
For Earth Month, I will write a series of pieces about my experience in Antarctica.
Special thanks to Annik Janssens, artist and photographer, and fellow adventurer to Antarctica. It was wonderful to experience such an amazing place with you. Annik’s Instagram
Thank you for reading my poem.
