Meanwhile
in warmer climes
But
less distance than you think
Quicker than a poem spends
To
take you there
There
is
Ardent
by name,
And
thus cursed by doting parents,
Also
bore a younger brother’s duty
Always
the second,
A
fixer to his elder’s grander schemes,
carrying
off with ease and cheek
what
allotted tasks befell him.
Child
of green downs and treetop pranks
Took
all trials in his stride
Knew
his place in England’s climate
Sure
within himself
That
winter followed summer
As
butter followed burns
As
love follows loss,
And,
in faith within himself,
Sought
out ,
following
a brothers scheme
though
not his footsteps,
Outfit
an expedition ?
No
sweat.
Cached
supplies and base camp set ?
All
done
By
barter, jaunty manner, fun..
Two
ice proof barques obtained
Black
Sheep and Endeavour named
No
guesses which one Ardent gained.
While
nobility aimed for lofty goals
The
northwest passage
Trade
and empire
And
so on and so forth
Blah
and blah blah-blah
The
black sheep dodged the limelight,
Providing
discreet rendez-vous,
With
salt beef and limejuice,
Fairly
bartered inuit winter clothes,
And
once, for one whole week,
In
glorious charivari
produced
Girlfriends,
wives and whores,
Sweetest
surprise of all for all explorers.
While
the Black sheep rocked
Ardent
took the watches
And
grinned at his successes
Way
beyond the call of duty.
Still
a playing second fiddle,
here
in icy and liminal lands,
Out
here on the perimeter,
The
unsure and seasonless
The
icy and the jealous
the
true wilderness,
he
became a wild player.
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