gone glacier

Near the high point of the Snowman Route, by Gophu La Pass, lies this melting glacier. Sick with altitude, I thought she was going to eat me.

What’s more sad than a glacier,

a mass of snow and ice,

a behemoth of cool,

melting?

I can’t think of many sadder things.

Of course, suffering of

sentient creatures like us

and of other species

is terrible.

But a glacier?

Talk about someone who minds her own business.

Up there,

at the top of the world in Bhutan,

shining so white,

in the hot,

bright

sun.

It’s not like she’s just losing weight.

She’s disappearing.

Unless someone, or many, snaps their fingers and saves the gargantuan, grounding forces of our planet,

one day,

sooner than we think,

she'll be gone.

Maybe she’ll come back in the next ice age

as a different glacier.

Who knows?

But damn,

right now

is a really

sweet

time

to be alive.