Forty-four days Since the day he was born
To lie in an incubator
Replicating a warm birthing cave
Carved out of snow and ice
Heated by the ice bear mother inside
But this baby ice bear lies alone
Removed by gloved hands to be fed from a bottle
Then returned to isolation
Separated by glass walls
From his caretaker yet from the beginning
Intertwined
With the man by his side night and day
Interrupting his own life
For the life he watches through the invisible barrier
That protects the baby from the world's contagions
But not its curiosity, plaguing the man in his stead
As if he were the one living behind glass walls
As if facts of feeding times and weight
Could bring strangers any nearer
To the closeness between them so apparent
Yet always remaining a mystery.
Forty-four years
Young, much too young
To lie beneath the stone
Replicating an iceberg
Carved out of marble
With the young ice bear secure within his arms
Symbols of the relationship
Which warmed hearts around the world
Taught by that example to show feelings
As joy suddenly turned to tears
The end of one man's life
Intertwined
With the beginning of the baby ice bear's
Intersecting long enough
For a miracle
The chance of a lifetime
For them both, transforming them both
Two halves of one relationship
Once more separated by an invisible barrier
Yet the closeness between them still apparent
Always remaining
A mystery.
—K. {3–20 September 2009; Die Jahresfrist}