Life pooled into a rock cleft built
itself by years of tectonic shift,
tiny facsimile, a thing of beauty.
Held by perfection, she studies
weed, whelk, limpet, sees
something in them of the world
she knows. As above, so below –
here there are trees, canyons,
busied movement of small animals.
Locked outside looking in I watch her
watch them. An anemone will close
and limpet stick if touched unasked,
calm surfaces will break into one
small ripple after another
until underneath is obscured; stilled,
she reveals herself as the moment
before the wave crash, the sea wet
pebble stranded on sand for an instant
before being pulled back into
deeper oceans. Still she is time
stopped, and I watch, breath caught
on this pinnacle of the present,
wanting in a senseless, unreasonable
way for this now to become always.
First published The Poetry Kit
Poetry Atlas also has this poem about Shetland in the local dialect.
Poetry Atlas also has many other poems about Scotland.