La Planete Blanche FRENCH
THE WHITE PLANET
For three long months…
I traveled to the end of the Earth…
to discover the White Planet.
I have faced glacial winds during
the polar night.
I have walked through desert glaciers.
I have listened, I have watched…
and the White Planet has told me
its secrets.
The lord of this domain does not
fear the coming winter.
She knows that the time has arrived
to disappear underground…
into her secret lair.
To the Inuit–the Arctic inhabitants–
the Aurora Borealis are spirits who dance in the sky.
At the dawn of the world, darkness reigned.
The fox loved the dark,
but the crow dreamt of light.
In order to please both, Sila,
the spirit of time ended the sole reign of night.
Thus, the White Planet was born.
The polar bear has been nursing her
young for 100 days in the dark, while eating nothing.
Finally, the March sun allows them
to leave the lair.
For the cubs, it is like being born again.
The male who approaches is a danger to the cubs.
The mother fears for the cubs’ lives,
if the male gets close to them.
The White Planet is a world that defies
definition…it is neither land nor sea.
In winter, the Arctic Ocean is covered
in a thick ice layer.
This is the ice floe, territory
of the seal.
The elephant seals are neighboring strangers.
With fear and surprise, the small
white seals discover their world.