Ruary Mackenzie Dodds
Two Sides of the Forth
Three dozen years ago, across the firth,
as wave-spray smacked against the window-glass,
and beach-wet pipers droned the New Year in,
I dreamed of loving by a happier sea,
and now, incredibly, you’re here with me.
Away across, the Bass Rock’s ginger-white,
not black and looming as it seemed to be
back in North Berwick, when tears ran down the panes,
and rollers tossed the drowned man’s upturned boat,
and driving rain tugged at the pipers’ coats.
Tonight, as the sun sets, and turns the sea
into a reddening sheet of turquoise whirls,
and coppers the tips of your long-haired curls,
and oranges the loop of Elie’s sands,
we laugh out to the headland; and hold hands.
Page(s) 28
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