Fianuis

Well, friend, we’re here again — 

            sauntering the last half-mile to the land’s frayed end

to find what’s laid on for us, strewn across the turf — 

gull feathers, bleached shells,

                                        a whole bull seal, bone-dry,

knackered from the rut

(we knock on his leathern head, but no one’s home).

Change, change — that’s what the terns scream

                                        down at their seaward rocks;

fleet clouds and salt kiss — 

everything else is provisional,

                                        us and all our works.

I guess that’s why we like it here:

                         listen — a brief lull,

                                        a rock pipit’s seed-small notes.


Kathleen Jamie (Scotland, 1962-) from The Bonniest Company (2015) 

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