Land Within the Filigree of the Sea
A Visit to the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
The sea is everywhere and everything here.
All around the land,
on the land,
within the land,
and even in the very air
inside us.
The Atlantic ocean,
a glacial river blue,
dictates our movement
between these isles.
Today we are no more masters of it
than our ancestors were.
If the sea wants us to remain
we are helpless before her might.
Eilean Siar.
A weaving of ancient gneiss,
heavy enough to resist the wind,
remaining anchored to the ground
in the wildest of tempests,
remaining long after tin roofs.
Atop this oldest of stone,
a paper-thin coating of peat
offers the most fragile
opportunity for life.
The Outer Hebrides are not our land.
These rare and sacred spaces,
within the filigree of the Atlantic,
are borrowed from the ocean.
The Hebrides are the sea.
