yet the ageing climber views only tragedy
as the ice has retreated
like hair on a balding man
but the lake behind him
has expanded and today
sparkles like stars and is painted blue
under a deep azure Arctic sky.
He came here thirty years ago
now he is standing on a barren rock
where an ice-sheet used to be
and as an eagle gracefully glides
the climber exhales yet another sigh
and pauses...remembering days gone by.