GLACIAL REBOUND
By Jeffery Brady, Skagway
Standing now where glacier towered seventy years ago,
Blue ice of colorized photos, crevassed and crept upon
By fanciful tourist picnickers, gives way to boulder erratics,
Moraine, misgivings on move up mountain out of sight.
How long does it take for land to start rising
After such a beat down by ice for thousands of years¬¬–
A sudden burst like birth from a womb, or a
Gradual emergence, measured in geologic time.
How so does a man rise up after the beat down
Of a bad marriage, a horrifying event,
Loss of trust, death of a loved one,
The ravages of age – erratics all uncrushed.
Will new love save him, save us–
Will new awareness of lost ice and warmer earth?
Will political climate action prevail,
Will rebound remain in our nature?
Stream flows from ice now unseen,
Displaces microbes, stirs new life below,
Builds to roar through land and heart uplifted,
Runs strong and silty with clear message for all.