birth of the boreal children

on the north wind
the seeds of refineries aglow
are carried over mountains of ice
to a place where nothing grows

long before dusk
the sky is as black as stone
dark clouds conceal the distant sun
as the northern winds intone

nuclear fusion
chernobyl a solemn choir
as gaping mouths of testing grounds
bay the moon with teeth of fire

and wake the boreal children

in southern lands
in shadows across the human brain
the forests wither, wilt and die
in clouds of acid rain

poison streams
rivers of toxic waste
flow to the vast open sea
where the super-cyclones race

to illumination
the turbines churn the light
eyes are exposed to the blinding sun
that irradiates the night

and bloom the boreal children

clouds of freon
gas from deodorant sprays
burns through the wall of our thinning womb
then fall ultraviolet rays

ash grey trees
raise arms from deflowered earth
in their blackened seeds a spirit
nurtures the Antarctic rebirth

the worlds of white
earth’s ancient frozen lands
wake as if from the strangest dream
ice splits as stems expand

and rise the boreal children

glaciers drown
rarotonga below the tide
black flowers spread over snow
and ice resists, and then subsides

and wake the boreal children
and bloom the boreal children
and rise the boreal children…

and wake
and bloom
and rise..