Tasiilaq let us in.
Cold sun on our faces
A spotlight skittering across silken seas,
We dropped our sails.
Clouds stretched grey and mauve;
Mountains in soft layers of mist
Split and cracked the horizon.
A bubble beneath our bows!
Then more aligned
Until massive, black, timeless
The humpback rose, blew steamy jets,
Introduced its dorsal fin, curiosity satisfied,
Raised its languorous fluke
And plunged.
Against the scorching rim
The sun’s last rays splintered the mountain tops
While icebergs, crisp against deepening layers of purple
Imperious
Doomed
Carried their centuries of snow
Out to sea.
