The hills step off into whiteness.
People or stars
Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.

The train leaves a line of breath.
O slow
Horse the colour of rust,

Hooves, dolorous bells ----
All morning the
Morning has been blackening,

A flower left out.
My bones hold a stillness, the far
Fields melt my heart.

They threaten
To let me through to a heaven
Starless and fatherless, a dark water.

Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new

Whose name you meditate --
April snowdrop, Indian pipe,
Little

Stalk without wrinkle,
Pool in which images
Should be grand and classical

Not this troublous
Wringing of hands, this dark
Ceiling without a star.

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"

Stasis in darkness.
Then the substanceless blue
Pour of tor and distances.

God's lioness,
How one we grow,
Pivot of heels and knees! -- The furrow

Splits and passes, sister to
The brown arc
Of the neck I cannot catch,

******-eye
Berries cast dark
Hooks ----

Black sweet blood mouthfuls,
Shadows.
Something else

Hauls me through air ----
Thighs, hair;
Flakes from my heels.

White
Godiva, I unpeel ----
Dead hands, dead stringencies.

And now I
Foam to wheat, a glitter of seas.
The child's cry

Melts in the wall.
And I
Am the arrow,

The dew that flies,
Suicidal, at one with the drive
Into the red

Eye, the cauldron of morning.

Follow me into the night which envelops us, cloaked in the blackness and hooded in dark
The stars are extinguished, the moon turns her face, no light to guide us, our journey is stark.
The forests that frighten and grasp at thy pale skin, tearing thy garments when hurriedly passed
The calls of the night birds, the shapes of the shadows, firmly hold onto me, move with me fast.

Follow me into the realms of the underworld,  come follow,  inhabit the world of the night
The stars are extinguished, the moon turns her face, into the abyss, goodbye to the light
No ivory satin, no white rose bouquet, no cream lace adorn thee on thy wedding day
Bride of the dark depths thy ebony tresses are decored in black silk, of midnight thy dresses

Follow me into the chambers of Hades and come to me, join with me, lift back thy veil
No father or brother or suitor shall find thee, the stars are extinguished that none see thy trail
But here thou shalt live for me, thrive for me, die for me
Bride of the dark depths, no choices have thee.

The day I met a puffin we were standing in his path
Excitedly we clicked and snapped, keen to photograph
Sand eels dangling from his bill, he stood his tiny ground
Then off he flew, back out to sea and circled round and round
He came back twice to see us, so we thought what a thrill
To see this little sea clown close, with sand eels in his bill
Move out the way a local called, he needs to feed the chick
We stepped aside, he dashed straight past, into his burrow quick.
Before I met a puffin, I thought of them as tall
But in your pocket they could fit, they really are that small.
Sad eyed, painted Pierrots, a marvel to the eye
Swimming in the waters or whirling in the sky
All around a flash of orange, yellow, black, white, grey
Sorry little Sea clown for standing in your way.

15.10.18 JG

Oh such a view as never expected, breathtaking, beautiful worth every step
The expanse of clear waters that stretched out below us
A moment of magic I’ll never forget.

Oh such a steep and strenuous short climb
Muscles had stiffened from climbing Ben Ledi
On reaching the summit of little Ben A’an
I drank in the vistas, for these wasn’t ready.

Oh such a sweet day of sunlight and golden, fallen leaves glistening and paving the way
Loch Katrine before us in all of her glory
Etched in my memory, her autumn display.

Oh such a view as never expected, legends were made here of Rob Roy by Scott
The expanse of clear waters as far as the eye sees
A moment of magic I’ve never forgot.

14.10.18 JG