Aurora Australis
This is my heart
This is my heart laid bare by historic cold
Four days and ten-thousand miles of
Ice and razor black peaks
Wind-stripped my years erased
And now nothing to no one
All happiness the lost dream of lovers separated
By impossible place
A distance unbelievable
A truth denied
Can geography dissolve love?
If I'm forgotten forever upon
Desolation's plain of white and blue
My heaven's gone missing
And I've lost my way to hell
This miniscule flame fluttering before death's bitter blast
When all is done and everything said
Memory's kiss keeps the stars apart
Rising luminescent, smoke from the coal black wick
Aurora austrailis
I pray that you'll look up into your night and see
This is my heart
Without you.
I have been flying for four days. San Jose to L.A. L.A. to Auckland. Auckland to Christchurch. Christchurch to McMurdo. McMurdo to here.
Here is Pole. I'm one of 258.
Descending from 24,000 feet to Pole station, this is what you see from the window of the LC-130 skier plane: flat white below, extending forever in all directions, cutting the sky in a razor line between blue and ice. And upon what seems like a bank of clouds that never ends, a black spot the size of dust. A grain of sand become a marble. And then you see a building. And then two. And beyond, purgatory as far as you can see or imagine.
I have come back to this amazing nowhere.
So far from everything I ever think or love.
The current stats: outside temps, -27.2F/-32.9C. Barometric pressure 688 millibars, which yields an equivalent altitude of 10,324 feet. The wind is 9 knots along grid line 124. Wind Chill is -50.9F/-46.1C
I have been at pole station for about eight hours. Had time to sleep off the initial shock of cold and altitude. This time it's 25 degrees warmer. My body handled the altitude much more effectively. I don't feel like I've had a six-pack of beer. No headache. I'm able to function mentally.
Went outside and photographed the dome, which they're getting ready to dismantle. The new station has been certified for complete occupancy. The gym is complete. Game room. TV room. Comms has been moved to a high-tech, up-to-date command center. LCD screens line the walls and desks displaying the output of observation cams. Remote radio control. Maps of the earth showing the terminator, weather, world time.
I have a room with a window. The sun circles over head. Outside I see the white polar plateau and the adjacent wing of the new station, which they're beginning to cover in gray panels.
That's all for now. I need to rest. I hope to node again before the satellites go down.