David Elder

Though currently residing south of the border I previously lived in Stonehaven and regularly visit family and friends in the NE of Scotland. Many of my poems have been published in Scottish interest journals and anthologies. My poetry is strongly influenced and inspired by nature and the natural environment.

DUNNOTTAR

Out of hours and out of season
I come to visit your castle walls
And marvel at the mound
All pudding-stone – with lichened ochre
Pushing out to sea
Like a lonely heart
Seeking friendship,
Maybe more.
Not the tourists, nor the troops
Of Cromwell's day
Could win your hand,
And possess your jewel
Only the constant wails of wheeling gulls
And the ebb and flow of the cold North Sea
Have captured you at all.

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SANDSCAPES

A sorbet of sand
Served
Slightly chilled
Twice a day
With each helping
Of the tide,
Then baked
In the St. Cyrus sun
For two hours
Twenty four
Celsius,
And finally
Whisked
By the prevailing
Wind
Into a soufflé
Of meringue
Peaks
That stretch on
For ever.

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THE SHELL HOUSIE

Telling tales from the sea-bed,
A thousand and one shells
Carefully cultured and collected,
Crafted like a Roman mosaic
Into a Temple of Neptune,
A catalogue of awe
And loveliness
To while away the dullest day.
The shell housie
Sits on the forest floor,
Silent and modest,
Hiding its beauty
Beneath the naked moss
Of its green encrusted roof,
Only revealing its treasure trove
To those who seek
To gaze inside.

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WAR MEMORIAL

On the Black Mount
Bare in winter
Ablaze with gorse
And daffodil
In the resurrection
Of spring
A crown of rocks
Remembers
Never forgets
The names
Of men
One by one
Challenged by death
From Jutland to the Somme
Gallipoli to Marne
Burma, Dunkirk
The North Atlantic
El Al-Amen,
Their roll-call
Trilled by skylarks
Humming a thousand tunes
Invisible
In the sky
Above.

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