Poem: "Polar Opposites"

This poem came from the November 2013 crowdfunding Creative Jam.  It was inspired by a prompt from Dreamwidth user Toriwrites.  It has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette.

People who live in temperate regions
don't think of these things,
where dawn is never more
than half a day away --

but at the poles,
summer and winter
are as different as day and night.

Axial tilt means that
sunrise could be
weeks or even months  away.

When you are being chased
by vampires, this matters.

The undead love the poles,
because they can stay awake
as long as the night lasts --
even if it lasts for months.

At the autumnal equinox,
the sun sinks below the horizon
at the North Pole,
turning to night in early October,
and the sun doesn't rise again
until the vernal equinox.

Vampires migrate like swallows,
moving north as the sky darkens,
then south when the sun comes
so they can find Antarctic night.

Humans do the opposite,
avoiding the long nights
as much as possible --
but there are studies
that can only be done
by those who brave the darkness
and its undead denizens.

The North Pole Environmental Observatory
is automated, but the drifting ice stations
and Barneo Camp are manned.
Also manned are McMurdo and
Amundsen-Scott in the south.

The vampires bring their own livestock,
of course, but that's tame blood
and half the thrill is hunting.
So they range out from the poles,
flirting with the edge of daylight
and slinking through the halls
of the research stations.

Scientists are the most dangerous prey,
though -- no telling who might have
built a laser gun or a soletta
or somehow contrived to make garlic bloom.

They watch each other,
circling warily,
vampires and scientists
like the ancient duo
of cobra and mongoose.

Even when they're in the same hemisphere,
they are always polar opposites.

* * *

Notes:

Polar seasons are very different from temperate ones.  Here is a gallery of arctic seasons.  At the South Pole, sunset brings six months of (more or less) darkness.  Read about the polar night and how daylight/darkness works at the poles.  What this means for vampires in this setting: the more sunlight, the more dangerous it is to them.  They can tolerate twilight as long as they're not directly exposed to sunlight.  So at the poles where sunlight is diffuse to begin with, vampires are very powerful.

The North Pole has a variety of drifting ice stations, and nearby is Barneo.

The North Pole Environmental Observatory (automated) is unmanned except for occasional visits.  See a gallery of the North Pole webcam.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a major Antarctic establishment.  See the ASSPS webcam.

McMurdo Station is on an island in the Antarctic.  See the MMS webcam.

A soletta is a device for magnifying and directing sunlight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soletta