North of Norway

When you're north of Norway
there's still more north to know
 
There's a polar ice cap
pooling into danger
a north pole
giving you the cold shoulder
and further north
heaven
- for the eternal believers club -
or Valhalla
to sate one's inner Viking.
 
Or perhaps there's simply the stratosphere
the mesosphere
the thermosphere
and the exosphere  
and up and up and up and up
until space
is out of space
and has to wait for more time.
 
In the meantime,
if you are north of Norway
just barely so,  
you have midnight sun islands
winter afternoons that strand you in the dark,
mitigated by life-affirming auroras
dancing pink and green
across a sky
that takes you beyond
the dome of your world.
 
When you're north of Norway,
you're in an arctic desert.
Polar bears roam the simple streets
and if you live on the island of Svalbard  
halfway between northern Norway
and the north pole
you're not allowed to die
because you can't be buried
and you won't decompose.
 
When you're north of Norway,
nature is a fierce opponent.
You rise to the challenge
applauded by a thousand ancestors,
though, granted, they didn't have a liquor or grocery store
 
When you're north of Norway,
you're with me in spirit
yearning for the top of the planet
and a journey,
somehow,
beyond there.