Sophia - a year on

A year ago today (November 6th), I was made aware of the death of a friend, Sophia Dale. She was two years younger than myself, and we had met in March and April 2013 in Tigharry and Lochmaddy in North Uist. I was amazed at the strength of emotion that her passing evoked in me, particularly bearing in mind that I had not seen her for more than six years. Sophia was a very unique personality, a bright light that did attract me. After talking on-line for a couple of weeks, we decided to meet in North Uist. We hit it off and became close, Sophia being one of those people I found it easy to open up to - and reciprocally. She made me aware of her depressive illness, and how she coped with that: by going for a stomp on the beach and the machair each day. Sophia loved music and singing, it was her life. She loved to dance along the roads, singing to the skies and the birds. Her constant companion since the autumn of 2012 was her little black cat Torran. Sophia acquired another black one whilst in Tigharry, which she called Faili. It was pretty feral, but it took to Sophia. I don't know what happened to Faili when she moved to Berneray. I last met Sophia in April 2013 in Lochmaddy. Circumstances meant I was unable to keep in touch beyond 2014.

Then came the message on the Berneray page that Sophia had been found dead in her home. Her cat Torran was found a few days later, distraught. It was taken in by one of Sophia's close friends, and is now quite happy and settled in her new forever home. But she's still wondering, I'm sure, what had happened to her guardian. She's still expecting her tall, lanky form to come striding up the path to take her home. Which she will do, one day.

A lovely commemorative event was organised for Sophia on December 1st last year. Her family had come over from her native Australia, and took an active part in the church service and ceilidh afterwards. Sophia had been cremated, and part of her ashes were scattered on her beloved machair in Berneray. The rest was scattered into the sea at her hometown in Australia.

Swim strong, mermaid. I know you're out there, with Torran. I still hear your voice, not just from recordings. I still see your face, and not just from photographs.

You're with us, with me, forever, wherever we all go.

Sophia (13)

On the edge of the machair
on the edge of the ocean
you left us
in the quiet of the night

Little Berneray was
your last port of call
in the fields of flowers
where the waves lap ashore

Your spirit slipped out
in the depths of the night
looked out on Bjorn's Isle
left your companion for now

Little Berneray wept
that sunsplashed afternoon
Little Berneray sang
under the December stars

You walk with Orion
you swim in Canopus' light
under the Southern Cross
from whence you came

to the edge of the machair
by the ocean's shore
Your voice still rings out
in my mind's ear

Berneray

Down the long beach
we ran
In the summer
of endless sun

Innocence shone down
in the benign
light of evening
when darkness never came

The islands winked
at us from near
and from further away
cloudcapped to the north

Nothing could change
as the sun smiled
setting in the west
of autumn

The exhileration of
a fierce November gale
bound us together on
that boundless strand

Softly fell the
white snow of winter
as our footsteps
trailed us home

The light faded
that winter
when events far away
came to touch us here

As the crown of clouds
settled over the Clisham
a dark form rolled
in the surf on the beach

One of many to wash up
lost in the war
far out at sea
to the menace from the deep

We found him
No mark or name
His last resting place
by the timeless chapel

't Was also where
the lesson was learned
as our innocence drifted
away on the outgoing tide