it is a precious blessingas we now well knowand is like a Ming vasefrailly untetheredon the back seat as we go blindlyin an unsprung carover bumpinessand bodyaging and breakingwith a heart prone toachingand so careful behow we driveacross cattle-gridsand pot-holes and lifetoo quicklyover-taking otherwell-sprung carsas we’re prone to donever taking inthe viewour heartsmust meltMing cracked … Read more

We sleepwalk the bridge across the BroraWhere you youngfolk scream at us,“Am Fuadach Gaidheal,” [1]And you’re quite right to do so. We take flight heronlike to Gleann Slaodach [2]To sit in silence in the roofless ruinsA hearthstone cold as cunningBrùidealachd the haunt that wounds us. [3] Cleared of the Gaidheal for the big white sheepWe … Read more

always constantnot infrequentlynot occasionally constant as weathernot moodlessall changes living breathingnot dyingnot sameness constantyou not meyet us throughout the ages holding on constantlyto each otherfalling and falling coming up for air inside crashing wavesconstant together we are one and alikewe humans swimmingwith a constant tide

Across the moorlandflowing with bog cottonas white as snow,a wee black hooseempty topples,the spinning wheelhas froze and rustand crottle grows the chairwhere mammy, who nursedthe fair colleen,lies unforgotton. The scream: “níl aon ní úr faoin spéirach leis imeacht aimsirefearr is agamsa atá a fhiosthafearr is agamsa atá a fhios agus an bhuil a fhios agat … Read more

The Gentleman of the River has passed beyond the brackish waterin to the great green-bluing unknown heavenly depthsbeyond the sand banks of knowing and yon glistening rocks of faithwhere the wild north sea of baying sea horses and moon-swellcry like a banshee to the fishers’ wrecks The Voice calls “walk upon the water of life”“be … Read more