“Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.” ―Werner Herzog

Tap image for browser view

How thin the ice we skate on
Like sails of plundered ships
How sheer the veil once frozen
Pale as a nun’s handkerchief

“In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.”

―Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who wins the great debate on
The pace hot air dispels
The thin shell our fates wait on
By the grace of glacial swells

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice.”

―Robert Frost

May new nacreous layers on
Thin skin of gritting teeth
Resurface what we skate on
With a glittering bequeath

“Ice ages have come and gone. Coral reefs have persisted.”

―Sylvia Earle

And may rhymes we orate on
Defrost winter’s lovers
As the thawed rime we skate on
(Fingers crossed) freezes over

“Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray;
Who can tread sure on the smooth, slippery way:
Pleased with the surface, we glide swiftly on,
And see the dangers that we cannot shun.”

―John Dryden