Keep vigil in the freezing depth
of the Valles Marineris canyons

four miles down, huddled together
in stoic collectivist brotherhood

standing shifts on the group’s edge
then shuffling inward from the cold

millions on millions of miles
from Antarctica’s long-melted ice

beneath the engineering marvel
of the Marineris air shield

transplanted to our new-old world
but valiant as their ancestors

starving themselves to safeguard
the eggs balanced on their feet.

They will swim only shallow waters,
never sight whales, nor wrestle squid

never wonder why we chose them
over eagles or swans or flamingoes

all of us stranded in the cold,
no strength but in each other.