An Arctic Mother  

She wakes from her extended slumber,
blinks
As eyes they glisten under freezing sun

And glacial air seeps through her frosted lungs.

The icy wilderness remains unchanged,

That vacant frozen desert that so chills

The bone that lays beneath her milky coat.
 


Gentle paws of infants timid to touch

The thick white cloak that holds their tiny lives

Balanced, in those cold foreboding hands.

Living, dying, to flourish or to fall

Rests on strong maternal shoulders, searching

For food, or hope, on vastly barren plains.
 


Glittering depths engulf her as she dives

Into the bitter sea, a clean white drop

Into malignant frosted ocean, deep

And deadly, lying patiently in wait.

She swims until her furry limbs grow weak,
And ice is nowhere to be seen for miles.
 


Ghostly specks on the land, her cubs remain.