One Penguin

One Penguin
On the far side where water and fire contend
as though the icy sea were all its own
a white mass of snow drifts on the horizon
laying its vast bulk in the waters below
it lifts only its face to breathe the sky
the white quilt that once covered
the cooling body while the earth slept
shattered to pieces when it woke
only the shell scattered, drifting away
floating tens of thousands of years on the water
a majestic shard of ice drifting in a single dream
each time the sunlight embraces it
it tilts a little, lowering icicle eyebrows
its ice caves blue deep into the sea
a cold breath where silence is spread
one penguin stopping to catch its breath
with a sparkling smile that shares the sunlight
a white iceberg drifting along to the end of the earth