they take one another upon them

Special day for me; and I was delighted to receive the pictured (recently published) 2018 collection of Nan Shepherd's writing ...

... regular readers will know that I've been quite smitten by her work over the last few years - prose; poetry; biography; & have even attended related, literary events ;-)

And Charlotte Peacock's edited collection of Shepherd's work, really is a new treasure-trove of previously unpublished work - here's such a poem from within:


Achiltibuie

Here on this edge of Europe I stand on the edge of being.
Floating on light isle after isle takes wing.
Burning blue are the peaks, rock that is older than thought,
And the sea turns blue --- or is it the air between? ---
They merge, they take one another upon them.
I have fallen through time and found the enchanted world.
Where all is beginning.
The obstinate rocks
Are a fire of blue, a pulse of power, a beat
In energy, the sea dissolves
And I too melt, am timeless, a pulse of light.

October 4th 1950

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Nan Shepherd (1893-1981)

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