Autumn

As the wind blows east
from distant climes
a hint of warmth
brings summer's end

The clouds now build
for the autumn's strife
between cold and warm
as the sun sinks south

With the equinox gone
leaves are turning
berries throng the trees
and birds heading south

Colour will soon fade
leaving just brown
yellow and black
as winter looms

National Poetry Day 2017

Dalmore

From the endless sea
a wave rolls in
like a drawn-out sigh
runs out onto the beach

The endless sky
of northern blue
with tufts of white
marches overhead

The sun yet low
over the darkened hill
brown green
yellow winter hue

Beyond the sea
in distant lands
beyond our knowledge
we may not venture

Its markers loom
in the sandy soil
where the memories fade
in illegible lines

We remember you
even if we never knew
so you'll forever live
on Dalmore beach

Langadale

Where eagles fly
and white hares run
the mice quiver
under fleeting winds

Rapaire juts out
under Stulabhal's bluff
where the path threads
up the mountain slope

Oft my feet
have waded the river
where it meanders
under Mullach's slopes

Crowned in cloud
the mountains rear
under northern sun
in Langadale

Mealista

Nearing the end of the road

when the tarmac has ceased

the going gets tough

the ground only more rough

 

We think of you now

as sleep overtakes wakening

to not feel the pain

to not have to think

 

The road nears its end

but the light beyond it

grows brighter

in distant Tir nan Og

 

Where the nunnery stood

looking south down the narrows

past the abandoned isle

to the hamlet

 

At the end of another road

or maybe a new beginning

past the point of

our cognisance

 

Where the slipway lies

is the end of the road

into the sea

to Tir nan Og