Antarctica

Brr! Antarctica, great continent
of freezing ice and snow.
Sitting in the Antarctic Circle,
How your icy winds do blow.

Your Trans-Antarctic Mountains
unevenly, divides
Antarctica into East and West,
where the Antarctic Ocean hides.

Sometimes you can't see it
for it freezes into ice
and many geographers don't name it
cause it's hard to find it twice.

The Antarctic Convergence
names the very place,
where these cold Antarctic waters
meet all three oceans face to face.
Then they sink below them
into warmer waters deep,
The Antarctic Ocean disappears
into boundaries it can't keep.
The Atlantic, the Pacific,
the Indian Ocean then
drinks up its chilly waters
before swimming home again.

Antarctica means the opposite
of Arctic and, you see,
since that's in the northern region,
then south is where we have to be.

Vincent Massif rises
16,864 feet into the air.
The tallest point in Antarctica,
if you climb it, please take care!
Or if you go to Mt. Erebus,
it can be a very, scary place.
It's a great volcano rising
12,448 feet up into sky and space.

Antarctica has lots of ice
but very little grass.
Some grows on the Antarctic Peninsula
when summer comes to pass.
Or here and there along its edges,
you might find some growing there.
But, you'll never find shrubs and trees, 
their just not able to grow there.

However, you'll find Zooplankton,
sometimes it's called Krill
And that's important to the sea world
that thrives in Antarctic waters, still.

Brr! Antarctica, we've lots to learn
from beneath your ice and snow.
You've buried facts about yourself
and from your fossils we now, know.

India, Asia, Africa
South America and YOU
were all once, one continent
called Gondwana Land.
Yes, they do believe it's true.
And it's all so very interesting;
but now, I understand,
You should never judge a continent
just by what you see upon dry land.

Brr! Antarctica, Antarctica,
your boundaries surround
the South Pole and its axis
and the coldest places found.
At Vostok they recorded,
the lowest temperature to fall,
-128.6 degrees Fahrenheit,
that kind of cold could kill us all.

Brr! Antarctica, no one likes to live on you,
except, a very precious few
Like insects, Petrels, Whales,

and more whales of blue!
Seals and fish,
and many Penguins, too.

Yes, Penguins here and Penguins there,
all kinds of Penguins everywhere.
Nesting on the shorelines bare,
they meet, they mate,
two by two in pairs.
Life time mates, sharing family cares.
They slip and slide,
tobogganing side by side.
Chinstraps, Kings, Emperors,
Adelie's and Gentoo's
in Antarctica all these kinds of penguins
find many things to do!

Penguins may be birds but they don't fly!
They sail the seas but not the sky.
Waddling's a thing they do on land,
but in the water they're all Peter Pan.
There's more of them, than there are of man
because the only men living here
are the weatherman,
or the scientist trying to understand
how this continent can inform us of our changing land.

So, the world is watching and trying to protect
our planet from the spoilers who so often just forget,
That we all need the water and we all need the air,
Free of poisons and of toxins, oh we must beware.

The North Pole says a lot to us,
as does our South Pole too!
There's so much to learn from both our Poles
and lots we've yet, to do.

So, good-bye to Antarctica
you've taught me to take care
of what this planet gave me,
and this lifeline that we share.
There's nothing I can say to you,
except a little prayer
that you'll protect our Ozone,
and of our future you'll take care,
To keep any rising waters freezing
back into icy bits of you
Your the Great Antarctic Snow Queen,
Antarctica, Thank You.

"For we all need the water and we all need the air.
Free of poisons and of toxins, oh we must beware!"

By Linda A. Copp

November 1998