A cruise on the Hertigruten ship in Norway in Feb 2011. We had hoped to see the Northern Lights but it was too cloudy which was disappointing. But we did have a midnight ride under the stars with huskies, driven by an Englishman who had found his way to Norway from Durham via South Africa! And bizarrely was happy as larry with his dogs at minus 30 degrees.

Northern Light

The huskies stand dark-shadowed
baying to the ice moon
snow-footed they wait
for the boy with his expert fingers
to knit them in bridal pairs
for their sledge journey.
His eyes see through the night blanket
they sense his mood
his joy releases speed
his doubt provokes a slip of the paw
jolting him off the sheet-white track
into danger within black skeletal trees
miles in the frozen nowhere
they move as one body
like a trout twisting upstream.
Stopping under the dancing stars
they warm his sleep
in the three-dog night.