A birthday poem for Kittycallum
Northern Trail
~ Kenneth White
1.
Dark waters, home
of greylag goose, blackthroated
diver
salmon, charr and trout -
after ten days' drought
the rain has returned
a grey smir
obscuring the loch, smooring
the hills.
2.
Chill dawn air
this rock:
those Ice Age scratchings
and there a hillock
a fox's lookout
(the grass has greened
with his droppings.)
3.
Birch grove
silver-blurred in the rain
the bleached trunk
of a dead
pine
deer-print
in the peaty ground.
4. Burn water grey
club moss
tight on the stones
and a single
arctic
black-stamened
white-petalled
flower.
5.
Down there
along the rock and scree
a ptarmigan
makes it over the ridge.
~ Kenneth White
1.
Dark waters, home
of greylag goose, blackthroated
diver
salmon, charr and trout -
after ten days' drought
the rain has returned
a grey smir
obscuring the loch, smooring
the hills.
2.
Chill dawn air
this rock:
those Ice Age scratchings
and there a hillock
a fox's lookout
(the grass has greened
with his droppings.)
3.
Birch grove
silver-blurred in the rain
the bleached trunk
of a dead
pine
deer-print
in the peaty ground.
4. Burn water grey
club moss
tight on the stones
and a single
arctic
black-stamened
white-petalled
flower.
5.
Down there
along the rock and scree
a ptarmigan
makes it over the ridge.