Trudging again to Lone Tree Look-out
high on the grasslands of Sparrow Craig Hill
pallid winter sunshine enlivens the skyline
scarves of mist wander the strath below
no sparrows, just a crow cawing from a pylon
fox turds by a tussock pin-sized bones
there you wait, crooked elder of the pasture
I step inside your shadow outstretched on shallow snow
our two forms merge my lungs breathe within you
may a mistle thrush sing high in my branchy mind.
Kathleen Jamie’s books include the essay collection Surfacing (Sort Of Books) and Selected Poems (Picador).
This article appears in the 03 Feb 2021 issue of the New Statesman, Europe’s tragedy