Poetry by Jack Harris
Although surrounded, I am alone
This work is for the young
Who do not have the fear
of not returning or promises of caring.
They sleep freely and laugh at edges
Tomorrow passes, and they live now.
For them, time is endless now
They have no need to be alone
And so, they test themselves by play at edges.
But I am no longer young
And no longer capable of carrying
The implications that come with fear.
In this land it is easy to know fear
Even though it is peaceful now,
Implications are facts I'm carrying
That build mirages of meanings to me alone,
Although I remember being young
Before the world was hemmed with edges.
Here the wind the sea the mountains have edges
Each more powerful than the other, each engenders fear.
I am told the world is young
And thoroughly mapped now
With bits belonging to single labs alone
And someone who is committed to its caring.
But that does not help when you're carrying
Important tools along the edges
And others depend on you alone
Then the implications raise the fear
That the past won't help you now
Now it's not a state of mind, not to be young
For age's glowing length does not replace the strength of the young
When life itself depends on carrying
The how and power that is needed now.
When all depends on crossing edges
And only strength displaces fear.
Then, though surrounded, I am alone.
So though I've been at many edges, and can, in fact, cross some now
And though I've gained in patient caring, and managed carrying many fears,
For this I will atone: I hate the young. Tomorrow I leave them here, but I now know alone.
Jack Harris was the senior member of a team at New Harbor, in McMurdo Sound during November 2005, where divers depended upon him to tend their dive holes while they were submerged under the sea ice.
Image: Cape Evans Road, Bob Champoux
Fri 10 Feb 2006