Friday, August 31, 2012

Trip to the Arctic





Kids, this is a total treat for your eyes and senses. It was sent to me some time ago by Bren (Daydreamertoo), and when Hannah over at Real Toads set us the challenge to speak from the point of view of a denizen of the northern tundra, as part of her Transforming Fridays series, this video popped up in my memory.

It is a few minutes long, but the photographs are among the most stunning I have ever seen, revealing the beauty of this distant land that most of us will never see. Pour a cup of tea, sit back and plunge for a few moments into another very beautiful world. There are shots of a polar bear befriending a chained up Husky (!!!), and the northern lights are astounding and mystical. A most fascinating video, just stunning. Enjoy. My words will be a far cry from what you will see on your screen - the photos are truly the best poem anyone could write about this part of the world. They are identified as being of Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle, in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

I spent one winter in the north, not quite the Arctic, but close. Pup loved it, old wolf that he was......he would bury himself in the snow, photo below, just his eyes peering out, and he never wanted to come inside. I had to force him in, I always worried he would be cold! We would go to bed at night and in the morning discover so much snow had fallen overnight that it came halfway up even the second-story doorway. We would literally have to dig our way out.

Farther north is the tundra :  beautiful and austere, where life is stripped down to the essentials.

Land of snow, ice
and pristine beauty,
life is about survival here,
battling the elements,
the bitter cold, 
the dangers
of crossing ice and
melting tundra.

Yet it is also a land
of awesome 
and untouched beauty,
primordial, pristine and predatory,
far from the world
of man-made chaos, 
politics, Talking Heads,
discord, 
disconnection
 and war.

Here, we live interdependently,
human and dog,
reindeer and fish
and bear,
under the same
big sky.
Here, our souls expand
under a limitless horizon.

Here, the mystical and the magical
are close and wondrous,
 where life and death
walk hand in hand,
through a white 
and untouched landscape,
colored by the Northern Lights,
silent and spectacularly
beautiful,
a land
carved in ice.

Pup, up north
this was taken  out of the second-story doorway-
one night's snowfall!

11 comments:

  1. Very nice, Sherry. I liked very much your third stanza.....the interdependence under a limitless horizon! This must be exactly how it is.

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  2. This is gorgeous, Sherry. You have such a respect for the land, which shines through all your poetry. The pic of pup through your window is amazing - I've never experienced snow like that!

    Loved these lines:

    where life and death
    walk hand in hand,
    through a white
    and untouched landscape

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  3. wow, thanks. i'm freezing now!


    Weekend Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^=
    > < } } ( ° >

    > < } } (°>

    ><}}(°>

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  4. I love that pic of your pup :)
    My Timmy needs a path shoveled clear for him if it's more than a few inches deep, his little belly is in it otherwise and he can't pee...lol
    That is stunning video isn't it. Can't believe you still have it. Loved the wolves and polar bear in it.
    Your poem really illustrates the love you have not just for the Arctic but for all the planet Sherry. It is magical and mystical but, I cannot believe how rapidly the ice is melting.

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  5. Oh my goodness, Sherry, you never fail to write from your most authentic voice...always a treasure to behold, thank you.

    I love this sentiment:

    "under the same
    big sky.
    Here, our souls expand
    under a limitless horizon."

    Love your intro and the video, yes, stunning!!!!

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  6. This is great Sherry! It is so educational and informative not just for kiddos but us as well! And a beautiful write to accompany!

    Hank

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  7. Wow that snow with Pup IS deep if this is from the second story!! How neat that you got to spend a winter in country that far north. It is very elemental in those harsh places and perhaps people just do not belong!

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  8. Every word counts here.....the soul of tundra.....loved this....

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  9. O Sherry, I loved every part of this post! First I read your poem, beautifully setting the feeling of a world clean of our daily clutter! And then I sank dreamily into the video - smiling at the polar bear playing with the dog and the final swirl of northern lights! Finally, the cutest image of Pup wallowing in his snow magic! A wonderful post!

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  10. Nice work on the blog post! Really appreciate that big time! Keep up the good work on the blog!

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  11. This is so gorgeous. The video is stunning. Hard to imagine what 40 below feels like, but wow, it sure looks magnificent.

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