Scotts Hut - Antarctica

There's a cross on a cliff near the headland

where a sailor once fell to his death

and an old wooden hut close behind it

that's got seal blubber stored underneath.

It's a lonely old walk from McMurdo

and the vastness just catches your eye

but you trudge through the snow to get down there

to honour those brave men who died.

There are memories waiting to greet you

and ghostly shapes lurk by the door

clean your bunny-boots if you should enter

'cause the ghosts don't want mud on the floor.

Inside there's a real sense of history

and the presence of spirits long gone

there's a table where men mapped adventure

swapped yarns, shared meals and heard song.

On the back of the door hangs a mutton

I've seen it, I know that it's there

and the rest of the hut is a time warp

with boxes and tins everywhere.

In the bay the whales are sounding

while the skua gulls wheel overhead

and the seals on the pack ice are sleeping

as penguin chicks wait to be fed.

There's an old weathered hut on a headland

that's waiting for Scott I am told

but he's frozen in time in the highlands

he never got back from the Pole.

Mike Subritzky 2001

Antarctica - Puckered Pete Project

VXE6 Squadron

© Mike Subritzky