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).
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This article appears in the 03 Feb 2021 issue of the New Statesman, Europe’s tragedy