Negotiating with a Glacier
Not trailing…not tight…
our connection just right.
They may be retreating,
but they are still here,
here to cross,
to traverse when
There Is No Alternative.
The blue beneath our boots
shames the brightest skies,
making them blush grey.
Stone-hard shatterings of fused ice
contort our tautening ankles
amidst numberless ruts and runnels
ploughed into this frost-blistered hide
covering for frozen flood flow.
We rope up in recognition –
together we might be surer of foot,
less chasm-bound, less ice-sliced.
Not trailing…not tight…
our connection just right.
Too loose and nothing is gained,
too tense and we mis-step.
Tenderly, ruggedly, we get there,
make the benign other side:
the secret of relationship glitters –
not trailing…not tight…
not trailing…not tight.
Ted x