This Poem was Submitted By: Frank J Glynn On Date: 2002-08-09 18:03:05 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!

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What is the Inuk Titut for robin?

We never listened to the doom speakers  who insisted that  their persistent chant was right. Convinced we were different and above pettiness. We lived our good faith and best endeavour every day. But, when, reluctantly, a North West Passage starts to open We find that it separates seal cubs from their parents, It separates caribou with bad livers from underweight polar bears This mortal passage filling with deformed fish and dead algae. Below us, the ice melts almost imperceptibly and  We sink with each forced disagreement With not even tundra below the ice. With only love to keep us afloat, and out of the cold water. Does it mean what we think it means?, When migrating geese fly in the wrong direction, When we can hear echoes where before there was silence – the unpredictable weather that spoils journeys outcome. But what of tomorrow? The glaciers might still recede, And average temperatures might yet drop again and the dangerous sea may yet drop and calm,  offering us signs that we can read -  Ice. Stars. Day and Night.  Healthy seals to eat and keep us warm. Signs in the clouds that offer a more predictable journey on our small circumpolar route. We know this because out there, on the handle of my spade is a robin, never before seen in this arctic. We speakers of Inuk Titut don't even have a name for it. Proudly perched like fate in its uneven grace, Demanding another spadeful to be turned, Where he will steal our worms from the melting ice, and,  After a while, bring back joy.

Copyright © August 2002 Frank J Glynn

Additional Notes:
Inuk titut is a native Inuit language. The Inuit people and their lifestyle are massively affected by the melting arctic ice that is as a result of Global warming. In many ways we are all affected by these and such peripheral issues. Work in progress. Constructive criticism sought!


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