Looking closer with a hand lens |
Maolios Caimbeul read us his poem about a rock that we passed on our path.....
A
Stone by the Way
Not
gneiss but a great lump of basalt
which
fell thousands of years ago
from
Grianan nam Maighdean
and down Leathad na Caillich,
and
now lies by the edge of the path above Loch Hasco
scrubbed
by the elements’ untold years.
Like
something living, bright and shining,
covered
by a multi-coloured film of life,
brown
and yellow and red moss,
and
algae of all kinds gripping you like a skin.
And
though we all know you’re dead,
of
the dust of the earth, you support what’s alive,
the
film of life that surrounds you,
and
draw me to you like a magnet
every
day I pass, renewing the whims of memory
that
come with age, a symbol and sign
by
the way, inspiring thought and thoughts
all
like a transitory layer of moss
on
the surface of stone,
a
stone anciently from the stars
and
which will long outlast us
carrying
the colour of life.
Clach
ris a’ cheum
Chan
e gneis a th’ annad ach cnap mòr basalt
a
thuit na mìltean bhliadhnaichean air ais
bho
Ghrianan nam Maighdein ’s sìos Leathad na Caillich,
thu
nis nad laighe ri oir a’ cheum os cionn Loch Hàsco
air
do sguabadh le bliadhnaichean nan sian.
Thu
mar nì beò soilleir, soillseach,
le
lìon bheatha ioma-dhathte gad chòmhdach,
còinneach
dhonn is bhuidhe is dhearg,
is
algae de gach seòrsa cho dlùth riut ri craiceann.
’S
ged tha fhios againn uile gu bheil thu marbh,
’s
de dhust na talmhainn, tha thu nad thaic dhan nì tha beò,
dhan
lìonraidh bheatha tha gad chuairteachadh,
’s
thu gam tharraing thugad gach latha thèid mi seachad ort
mar
mhagnait, ag ùrachadh magaidean na cuimhne
a
thig leis an aois, nad shamhla ’s nad shoidhne
ris
an t-slighe, ’s a’ brosnachadh smaoin is smaointean,
a
tha mar sgannan còinnich diombuam
air
uachdar cloiche, a’ chlach a thàinig o chian
às
nan reul, ’s a mhaireas fada às ar dèidh
a’
giùlan fiamh na beatha.
Sphagnum skyense |
Amidst sun, hail and snow we had a picnic - the 34 buns representing the number of different species of sphagna in Scotland and the tablecloth had images of Sphagnum skyense printed on it using peat.