The Borders
When I leave let me hold
each broken field
somewhere deep down
as the hares run on
no matter how far
I stray from where
they overleap
low walls then drop
into nothingness
scented with gorse
and topping a fence
in the near distance
a goshawk sits
with the Cheviots
reaching beyond
like an outstretched hand.
Goshawk
Rara avis, we
think when we see
one circling, silently
surveying her wintry
kingdom, where most likely
some timorous beastie
cowers. A century
or what might as well be
one passes by, the country
revolving slowly
underneath that tiny
shape. Then suddenly
she falls, letting gravity
guide her, unerringly,
towards her quarry
till, a small eternity
later, she flaps free
once more over the valley
letting the thermals carry
her away, pure poetry.
Stewart Sanderson is a poet from the West of Scotland, based in the West Midlands. He has been the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award, as well as Robert Louis Stevenson and Jessie Kesson Fellowships. His pamphlets Fios (2015) and An Offering (2018) have both been published by Tapsalteerie, with whom a new collection, The Sleep Road, is forthcoming in 2021.
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