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