Polar bear

reflected in the eye of an angel

Are they not   the most angelic of beasts?   Bright
white   & mighty of limb   though hardly suited for flight 
One thousand pounds of hypercarnivorous bear

O fragile child   what do you think   of the cub 
seeing for the first time   their diminishing arctic icescape  
stumbling after her mother from their winter lair?

Isolation has proven insufficient   the implications of wrong
radiate   to the ends of the earth   where
even inanimate ice crystals   wait

She knows nothing of changing seasons   or if all this drip   shrink  
thaw   occurs for more ominous reasons   doesn’t even know
it hasn’t been continuous   all winter long 

Franklin dreamed of the Northwest Passage   in days before
supertankers   But do you dare allow it   knowing now
what such a trajectory could mean?

Does the mother bear notice   there’s less sea ice?   Do you  
O fragile child   on occasion   include the creation you’re
to watch over   in your morning prayer?