View From a Shrinking Floe
Beyond the boats freed from the dripping ice
and all the bewildered sailors,
beyond the breadth of the melting tundra,
finally, the last polar bear
paddling away from us with its head raised,
a female, it was later discovered,
though she reminded me of my father,
his stark white hair toward the end
and the hands constantly moving on the tray of his chair.
