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Outbound from Orkney

 

Away from the land and now out to sea,

is where the long call of the Herring Gull

reminds me of her abiding call to me.

Calling me now with her love and desire,

calling me from the ice back to our fire;

though she knew I would always forsake her,

that I could follow the widow maker.




     What am I now, that you leave me?

     Watching your oars pull out to sea.

     Away now from your kith and home;

     free to go wherever you may roam.

 

That cold drear bitch shall be leading me on,

enticing me with her seducing song.

Leading me to where gold and death might lie;

over the horizon and past the sky.

Now’s she’s my fate and I must embrace her;

she is my thrall – the grey widow maker.




     Leaving behind the hearth we shared.

     The sod fire and the hot pelt nights;

     When each to each was all we desired.

     Leaving me now with kids you sired.

 

I always breath freer when I’m out at sea,

knowing there can be no land near to me.

Wrapped in my cloak, can you hear my repine?

In the long call – ‘I am here, and you are mine’

 

© D G Moody 2022