Uncharted Land
Janet Kuypers
23 June 2019 (written on the Cold War day
The Antarctic Treaty first comes into force)
We have lived in this uncharted land for millennia.
Our whales slide with ease through our Southern Ocean,
our penguins porpoise through our waters, sharing
lichen with the seals basking in the south pole sun.
Only in the past one hundred-fifty years did you come,
and we learned, the first thing humans bring is death.
You docked ships, slaughtered our whales, used blubber
for oil, and thought we were a never-ending resource.
You don’t realize that you brought twelve species here
to the brink of extinction, and you can’t see the harm
in what you do. So when your two biggest bullies
threatened to blow all of your humanity to extinction —
someone realized they had to draw the line, and
not use this land for your own selfish, self-destructive
needs. Because believe it or not, as you destroy
yourselves, so destroy so much more along with you.
The first step to creating peace was the underlying
premise of what we represent. Demilitarize when here.
Don’t allow the antagonism on this land, and the next
thing you know, you’re holding hands, growing, together.
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