The Southern Sea Revisited

 When I was young, I saw a PBS special on Ernest Shackelton's Antarctic voyage. From then on, I was hooked on National Geographic articles about the Antarctic, penguins, and sailing. I wrote the following poem in high school to record the feeling of the experience:

 

The Southern Sea

Our ship is tossed

on watery peaks.

The waves pound harder.

and we spring leaks.

The sails are full

of Southern air.

To slacken our watch

we do not dare.

Only the strong here

can survive.

Only the wary

remain alive.

The mighty albatross

we see.

A sign of good fortune

is he.

Where ice and seals

and penguins rule,

the Southern sea

is hard and cruel.

There is nothing in the world like an adventure across hazardous and unknown wastelands.

Here is a preview for an upcoming reenactment of the Shackleton expedition. Please note that I do not endorse the Malt Whiskey sponsor.

https://vimeo.com/48923718

And on that note, there is nothing like penguins, either.

Swarms of haute couture midgets waltz on ice

shuffling with an awkward, gamboling gait.

Angry flippers are tools of their vice,

they are short and tall, tails small, and beaks straight.

They dine on fish, shrimp, and krill far out to sea,

on ice and land they fast and wait to eat.

Their offspring wear soft down till grown they be,

They trip and slide on land, in water fleet.

Small, sophisticated, they dwell on coast,

flocking in thousands, cackling with heads high.

Haughty kings and emperors and hosts

rule remote lands beneath Antarctic sky.

A penguin’s life endures much strife and cold,

but, ah! to see those creatures brave and bold!