---

We have betrayed the north,

why should she forgive us

for what we have done?

My dogs know, they have known

since the first time my heart fell

from my chest, and I needed to gather

it back and try to adapt to the new ways.

You must know, an Inuit man is nothing

without his dogs.

I never expected to be gone before them.

Back, back before the ice started dying,

their fur was carried off by the wind

always before their master's

last breath.

Their wolf songs collect on the wind.

I taste their grief on my tongue,

I swallow it, I will carry it.

My family, my sacred mountains,

they cry with no noise.

The morning brought seals

too many seals.

The meat is not how I remember.

They are sick, offering themselves

in hordes, begging for death.

Their eyes are all agony.

But I do not want to die hungry,

I eat.

I chose the floe yesterday,

the floe that will take me home

to my ancestors.

I am surprised it is still there today

for the warmth is taking everything

it long took away my happiness.

My family, my dogs stand on the shore,

we watch each other

until the skyline is drenched in fog

and then

I undress

I offer my furs my skins

to the sea, to Sedna

There is rain on my body

I have never felt it before now

the ice suckles on my skin,

the rain, black needles,

this is not how it was supposed to be.