When Shackleton’s ancestors still dwelt in caves,

Mine floated and furled through the air.

When his fur-clad forebears fought bears for their turf,

Mine settled here clothing the earth.

When he and his men were still dust in the sky,

My journey commenced with a slide.

I crept and I clung, hauling rocks down the spine,

The mountain aslant like these rhymes.

When Shackleton’s ship dropped its anchor at last,

My time like his Age would soon pass.

Like mine, his crew’s faces were crevassed and blue,

Like me, he now faced something new.

Of course, for a glacier time means rather less,

A century’s gone in a flash.

A hundred years onward I calved and I thundered,

Cowed penguins and seals fled my plunge.

Shaved by winds, smashed by waves, singed by sun I float by,

A window carved out of my body.

I drop crystal crackles that traversed the years,

In a moment you fish them, they’re yours.

So tonight when you’re cooling your drink with my ice,

Please remember us both when you toast.

Raise up your glass, take your time, speak some lines

For Endurance, both Ernest’s and mine.

[Photo taken near Pleneau Island, Antarctica, Feb. 2022]