Spitsbergen is Nordic,
Norwegian, and warmer
than other countries in similar latitudes,
thanks to some midnight sun.
It is the place
where we protect
our most important seeds
in an impossibly strong fortress
so that we never lose the means
to grow

– except that the impregnable fortress
was just impregnated with inconceivable amounts
of moisture.
The seeds survived
but their protection was compromised
by unseasonable heat
and melting caps
and rising tides
and rushing meltwater
through an open door.
Is it the midnight sun
that caused the mountain top to drown,
or global warming,
or some international conspiracy?

Anyway it goes,
our seeds are threatened.
Our doomsday protection
against starvation
may be doomed at its start.

Maybe it’s time
to quit this game
out of the gate
and just admit defeat.
The world doesn’t want us.
It is done, and
perhaps, so too,
are we.