I.
The Lord of Ice and Snow is going to die
And for our part we must know why.
For the thawing of Nanook’s ice bound caves
means the melting of man by sun born waves.
Dripping eyes cry over unfrozen graves.*
II.
Arktos is winter! The King of our seasons,
And his southern march each fall gives the reasons
That green trees shed leaves in mock sickness,
Or creatures whiten and hide from his stress.
Shivers lessens the bite of the cold.
His breath is the arctic wind that freezes rain.
His claws are frost that binds the ocean terrain.
Winter’s darkness creeps from his black hide,
And the whiteness of day seeps from the fur on his side.
A chill is pain blanketing warmth inside.
His large paws pad down like snowdrifts on a trail.
His growl sets the auroras adrift like an Inuit tale.
Over the pack ice he crosses and we know he’s coming
To hunt us each winter with a chill that is stunning.
Pursuit provides subsistence to the cunning.
III.
Freeze the waters, trees, and soils he certainly can.
Thus his influence commands the respect of man
who learns from this bear some lessons of life;
taught each winter in his school of seasonal strife.
Knowledge of snow keeps us safe.
The teachings of this seemingly cruel headmaster
Educate and insulate us from true disaster.
The way snow buried ptarmigan are kept apart
From storms that would seize the blood in a heart.
Cold lessons give the strength for a start.
IV.
The industrious fires of men may well induce
The irony of our survival upon his elimination.
From his situation we might deduce
Clues that warm us up to our own extinction.
Fires invite a new visitation .
Northlanders repent the heinous hot day
That sears the ice bear from our bipolar way
Of one season hot and one season cold
With overtures preceding each solstitial fold.
Ice parts and all is tolled.
When the druids of ice-henge melt into the sea,
And the compassions of winter cease to be,
His tortures will pale under the hot glare
Of his blood boiling cousin, the dis-temperate sunbear.
A dying plea for us to beware.
*(Inuit translation or reading preferred as a spiritual overtone)