For Carrie’s Sunday Muse BlogSpot #94. Published also for Earthweal and https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/
Melting Ice
“We need to save the Arctic not because of the polar bears, and not because it is the most beautiful place in the world, but because our very survival depends upon it.” Lewis Gordon
It was the full Snow Moon Friday night.
It was bitterly cold but the moon
shone bright and clear in the night sky.
I checked on the feral cats to make sure
sure they were fed and had a warm place to sleep.
I thought of all the animals in extreme weather –
either cold or hot
and hungry or burned to death
or clinging to the last bit of ice.
I need to have hope.
I want to have hope.
So much of my sun has vanished from my universe.
I lay here on my last bit of ice
and wonder,
how long before it melts and I sink into the sea.
Feb 09, 2020 @ 16:42:17
Some very deep grief here … hard winter panic too. Life clings this way sometimes, and the balance is very uncertain. Will this last bit of ice hold? Well done Toni — Brendan
Feb 09, 2020 @ 17:29:00
Ironically, Friday night is the first time it’s felt like real winter here, cold and crisp with moonlight reflecting off the diamond snow cover. So deceiving. Good opening quote.
Feb 09, 2020 @ 17:39:14
In the women’s spiritual discussion group I attend, we are frequently reminded that we van best focus on looking after our immediate environment. I know that having cats to look after helped me through the first days and months of widowhood. And I think you are doing much good, albeit on a small scale in the mighty scheme of things, by looking after those feral cats. If we all did that….
This is a beautiful piece of writing in ts simple truthfulness and perfect word choices.
Feb 09, 2020 @ 17:41:57
I have had them spayed and neutered as well. The ASPCA will do it for free plus give them their shots. It is hard capturing them Nd lugging them in but….
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Feb 09, 2020 @ 17:39:41
*can best focus
Feb 09, 2020 @ 19:36:27
I have the same feeling. Especially (as I am older than you) as I dont have much time left to see improvements or the opposite. All we can do is the best we can, I suppose. When I think of the polar bears floundering on melting ice, or kangaroos and koalas impaled on fences, I almost feel what they must have felt…….I love your poem. It speaks to my heart.
Feb 09, 2020 @ 20:38:21
I can feel a shadow of panic wondering how things might end. It’s difficult when so much darkness hovers. Perhaps, one needs to start small and work up to bigger things.
I couldn’t see the moon Friday night but, when I woke up Saturday morning it was there brimming with light. It was a moment filled with reflective thoughts.
Feb 10, 2020 @ 11:42:04
I don’t know where people are getting “panic” from in this poem. I am not a person who panics, not even when my husband died. It is a slow wondering of when I will sink, not panic.
Feb 10, 2020 @ 03:22:59
The loneliness, grief and the fear of displacement make all aware of a new time & a new reality. Beautiful.
Feb 10, 2020 @ 12:27:31
You have a beautiful love for life and all creatures Toni, and that is evident in your poetry. Heart stirring, though provoking and truly lovely. Thank you for your kind words over at my blog. You are so sweet.
Feb 10, 2020 @ 12:37:16
As are you!
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Feb 10, 2020 @ 14:26:52
This is so grief-filled, and I think we need to understand that grief, but maybe get strength for change from sorrow.
Feb 10, 2020 @ 15:35:27
You are right. Some people tell me I am doing “good”. I don’t know. I cry every day and walk around in this lonely house. I doesn’t seem I am doing good at all.
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