Reflections on the North Slope

(It wasn't truly this bad, but it started seeming this way after my third week up there when I still had a week to go.)


It was a grueling quest, I did my best, in that barren land
I dug the dirt til my arms hurt and in my mouth was sand
For weeks and days went my forays going from night to night
Where 'tis told it's always cold and that's when it's told right

After many hours I've taxed my powers and sore I still remain
And now it's done, and the midnight night sun still rules its home terrain
But I am gone from the caribous' lawn back to a nice warm home
With brighter rays and lighter days under a big blue dome

The 'bous still munch their tundra brunch like those darned mosquitoes
And workers toil on from dusk till dawn as the ice breaks up in floes
The chill will remain and those insane will make their living in it
And snow will blow in the wind, I know, a battle, they cannot win it

Mother Nature seems to have forsaken these working teams to her very worst
Never warm nor fun in dark or sun, a land undeniably curst
Yet black gold runs thick, and to it men stick their lives, and fortunes, too
So new holes they drill and empties they fill til hell freeze and go blue

Of a stranger thing few bards do sing like those in this wasteland
But these men will fight with all their might to take oil from Nature's hand
To it they're tied till they have died and waste away in time
I have broken free, all glory be, while still in my prime

I warn all those who love the snows, do not think nature ever nice
But good money's made, for well you're paid, just remember to think twice
Just heed these notes and recall your coats if you ever go there
If a lot of bug dope isn't brought, then you must truly beware.