Anglers inscrutable as stone
fish streams whose waters run as clear
as grey-eyed mercy's gaze,
belying trout of brown and roan.
Vision cannot span this scale -
horizon shunning lonely beacon,
private rituals of penguin,
coastline sheering off, amazed
at polar wilderness where ice
scans star-prism, paraselenae,
albatross ride squall and gale
with ghost masts of doom-laden whalers.
Midnight skies ignite, aurora
shimmers on earth's frozen plane;
summer hails lapidary
intensity's brief autumn phase;
songlines of the great cetaceans
following their dreaming trails -
seas that erstwhile teemed with whales;
brine's cauterising commonplace…