THE POLAR BEARS’ SECRET
Dear Jame-y you defame me
I’m not white at all.
This is a subject of confusion –
I’m just an optical illusion!
The colour white is made of light
All the colours blended bright.
But me – I’m a Polar Bear
Not one colour do I wear!
Except my skin – my skin is black!
But please don’t feel you’re taken aback.
What trick is it that shows me white?
A strange reaction of the light?
This strange reaction’s not refraction
But something closer to attraction.
I have two kinds of hair – one long and strong:
Tapered and hollow, if I’m not wrong.
It’s filled with air and called the ‘guard’
(Understanding this is really hard).
It’s made of stuff just like our nails
Not unlike a fish’s scales.
When sunrays hit my hollow hair
They bounce around while they’re in there,
They create a kind of incandescence
Something like a ‘transparescence’
In Polar Bear’s it’s the quintessence
Of what is called our luminescence.
So – every time my hair sees light
It makes my coat look really white!
PS The other kind of hair I wear
is short and thick my warmth to snare.
Jan Darling