Voyage to the great south
a thousand miles of turbulent sea,
Drake's Passage a roar of wind
below Cape Horn.
Looking out for the first ice
all day the waves get colder,
past the Convergence
seamen's showers now.
Icy flecks on a freezing sea
brash ice towards evening
ghost islands white
in the distant haze.
Berg cliffs huge and towering
taller than the ship
waves slap slap
below compacted snow.
A breath of the freezer
touches the heart,
no human world we're coming to -
ice rimmed planet now
Physics and chemistry all askew
everything new
boggling the imagination
as the approach to the Moon must do.
We're coming in
coming in -
Steady as she goes.