Still Life by Rock Pool (Shetland dialect)

Life pooled athin rock cleft biggit
hitsel be years o tectonic shift,
peerie facsimile, a thing o beauty.
 
Grippit be perfection, shö studies
tang, whylk, lempit, sees
something in dem o da aert
shö kens. As abön, sae anaeth –
 
here dere ir gairdens, geos,
pinnin vaegin o peerie animals.
Lockit ootside lookin in I waatch her
 
waatch dem. Da anemone will steek
an lempit clesp if touched un-axed,
platt watter will brak inta ee
smaa dirr efter anidder
 
fir da boddam’s gien; stilled,
shö reveals hersel as da moment
afore da wave stramash, da sea weet
 
pebble grunded apö sand fir a instant
afore bein reeved backlins athin
deeper oceans. Still shö is time
whet, an I waatch, breeth catched
 
apö dis pinnacle o da present,
waantin in a machtless, unraesonable
wye fir dis noo ta be aawis.
 

First published Pushing Out the Boat