Underneath the Ice

I was down in the Antarctic

Taking soundings through the ice,

Working with a team of boffins,

Roger Cord and David Rice,

It was bleak out on the frozen scarp

I wore a heated suit,

And had thought to bring the oxygen,

They laughed - ‘The new recruit!’

 

They were tough as old shoe leather

Had been there since June the first,

And they scorned the winter weather,

Said ‘It’s mild, will soon be worse!’

So we took the caterpillar

Drove on out along the shelf,

There were signs of global warming,

I could see them for myself.

 

For the shelf had started parting

From the continent of ice,

With a chasm slowly forming

‘Fifty miles,’ said David Rice.

‘Fifty miles since June the seventh

When it started to appear,

It will break away completely

By the closing of the year!’

 

We began to take our soundings

Fifty metres from the edge,

We were getting steady readings

Of two miles or more in depth,

There was bedrock underneath us

Holding all this captive ice,

‘Can you hear that distant rumble,

Underneath?’ said David Rice.

 

I had wandered further over,

Listened keenly to the sound,

It was slowly getting louder

As I walked, just underground,

When the surface split and parted

Sent me reeling, wheeling in,

To a sudden forming chasm

With an ear-splitting din!  

 

I dropped thirty feet or more and felt

My heart up in my mouth,

When a rush of water passed me

In a river, heading south,

And the ice that held me stable

Melted slowly at the edge,

Of the platform that had held me,

Of the ever shrinking ledge!

 

I could hear the cries of Roger

Up above: ‘We’ll get you out!’

‘Just hang on; we’ll get the rope,’

Called David Rice, I tried to shout.

But my throat had closed right over

In my terror, and the cold,

Which had turned my face quite ashen,

And was tearing at my soul!

 

Then the flow of water took me,

Took the ice that formed the ledge,

And I felt a sudden falling,

And my heart was filled with dread,

I was carried ever downwards

In a swiftly flowing stream,

Through a narrow icy tunnel…

I was dazed, as in a dream!

 

But I somehow found the mask and

Turned the oxygen full on,

I could breathe for thirty minutes,

Maybe more, though I was gone!

There was no-one now to save me

From the fate that filled my head,

I was sure and I was certain

I could only end up dead!

 

It was light within the tunnel

As I hurtled swiftly down,

With the water iridescent

From the light above the ground,

And it seemed to last forever

This descent into the deep,

We’d recorded two plus miles

To the bedrock underneath!

 

Then I slid into a cavern

Found myself within a lake,

Where the water ceased its flow

And I crawled out, my mouth agape,

For around the water’s edges

Were the ruins of a town,

All iced up and gleaming starkly

With the light that streamed on down.

 

There was some sort of Cathedral

With its lofty, shining spires,

It stood silently, reflecting,

On the past ten thousand years,

There were houses stood forlornly

At the edges of the lake,

And the forms of ancient people

In their shrouds of ice, like slate!

 

From the roof of ice above me

Poured a hundred different streams,

And the light that came down with them

Lit this most fantastic scene,

I could see a stream of water

At the far end of the cave,

Flowing out to brighter daylight,

So I thought: ’I must be brave!’

 

I stood still beside the current

And I said a muttered prayer,

Whatever fate had offered me

I’d find it just out there,

I took a breath and jumped right in

The middle of the stream,

And felt it catch and carry me

Towards that lighter beam!

 

It seemed but only minutes

‘Til I shot out through the ice,

And I landed in the open sea,

I thought it paradise!

For only fifty yards away

The MV Australis,

Our very own supply ship there

Was anchored at the coast!

 

They marvelled at my story

But I saw their disbelief

When I told them of the buildings

And the people, underneath;

So I never did repeat it

To the world, although I know,

Mankind lived in Antarctica

Ten thousand years ago!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[LJW]

The form here is perfect. Textbook perfect. My "underground writer" hates this. Seems Sean Connery should be just off camera doing a voiceover. Theatrical, antiquated. Feels like I should be sporting a corduroy jacket with suede elbows and leaving the book reading in an old Volvo.

[...]

Fantastic story all wrapped up in a poem!!! AMAZING!!!

[Wendy Seames Garner]

You took me on an eerie ride through the depths of the Antarctic, where I thought I would die. Showed me an amazing city underneath the ice. Then brought me back again, to wonder at your marvelous story telling, so beautifully worded.

[daydreamer]

enjoyed the poem thoroughly. Felt like I was in the antarctic for a while lost in the ice melting down. global warming is indeed alarming:)

[Cathy Wattam]

I love this poem, really great flow and fantastic imagery. I did spot two errors though:-

(2nd stanza) "It’s mild, will be soon be worse!" - too many be's I think.
(4th stanza) "Can you hear that distant rumble underneath" should have a question mark.

I'm an irritating proofreader I know. Just can't help myself. But I really did enjoy your poem. Wonderful.

[Marie]

This is an excellent poem. I thought, when I first started reading it, that it sounded like Kipling or Maybe Robert service. But then I realized you had a style quite your own.

[Tate Morgan]

I have to say this one has the unaltered imagination of a child yet grown Beautiful You seem as I to have been able to hold onto your childhood imaginings.Bravo

[roarke]

I don't doubt a word of it.
I gotta remember to bring my own oxygen mask when reading your heady stuff. The pace was breathtaking.

Never know what a little crevice in imagination will yield.

[Lena M. P.]

Fantastic imagery David. Really a smooth read from each stanza. Loved the storyline blending the modern with the folklore.