Glacier – Haiku – December 12, 2014

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The Telegraph – Click for full article and credits

climate change
the glaciers melt
in Trentino

Alpine glaciers
melting in the heat
corpses bloom

receding glaciers
revealing stones and bodies
a journey ends

© G.s.k. ’14

Over the last couple of decades the glaciers not only of Italy but all over the alps are receding rapidly due to the increasing heat attributed to global warming.  In the Dolomites bodies of soldiers, as well as their weapons and other equipment which have been buried under the snow for a century have been uncovered as the ice melts.  Click the first “glaciers” to read an article on the subject published by “The Telegraph”.

Here are some pleasanter haiku written by Jane Reichhold and our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai host, Chèvrefeuille:

under low clouds
evening sky glacier
cools the wind

a journey ends
where the glacier melted
a field of stones

© Jane Reichhold

as far as I can see
blueish, greyish and whitish snow
first glacier contact

© Chèvrefeuille

Inspired by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

28 thoughts on “Glacier – Haiku – December 12, 2014”

  9. What an interesting story, Georgia — thanks for sharing this. So many people gone without a trace — finally emerging — but the families, the descendants will be no closer to finding answers. So sad, to be so much closer — but still not home.

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    • True … most of their families are now gone as well … they might be able to identify some of the soldiers, but their wives, mothers and families never knew what happened to them. So sad.

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      • That’s the worst part. And I saw that some of the locals were outraged at any testing done on the bodies — so — it’ll be even tougher to identify anyone. Perhaps the families had an idea what happened – lost somewhere in the snow – based on the letters home …. but no concrete answers. 😦

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        • Alas … I read a book a couple of years ago, by an Italian author about a young man who goes off to the first world war and is killed … and becomes the unknown soldier .. can’t remember who wrote it though right now! It’s sad for the families.

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          • On a totally different note — I read that some of the soldiers in WWI who died of the flu *still* have evidence of the flu virus in their lung tissue. There was so much outrage over the medical testing – but they did manage to get permission from a few descendants to do some testing. And they learned so much. So to do a *bit* of testing to try to determine identity seems much less invasive – and will answer so many questions. I think the soldiers would have wanted their families to know.

            But … this is another one of those soap boxes I keep talking about. 😉

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          • Ah people just have to show their sense of “morality” … you know, let the dead rest in peace and all that slush. Sad though because you are right, the descendants should be informed that their lost one has been found.

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          • Well – they’re claiming to be honoring the dead. If you want to honor them, restore their names. I mean, here in the US, before dog tags were used, Civil War soldiers would pin their name to their clothing in case they were killed — they WANTED to be ID’ed.

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