IAN STEPHEN’S BRITTANY WEBLOG

Far from the Shiants

27 September 2008


Speaking as a navigator
guessing between
a prile of tidal periods
I can understand
in retrospect
now that the hull’s been released
everything but
the suddenness.

Even the Mull
North Channel
streams south of Arklow
St George’s Channel
all allow
a grace of slack.

But I remember
3 hours into the passage
warning whorls at the Sound of Shiants
where the blue men hold the boat
and test the eloquence of all aboard.
And if they’re satisfied they slack their grasp.
We thought we were through.

Now that we’re
lifted out for winter
and separated
from our ship
even the skipper
has difficulty
in dealing
with the freedom of a world
that now seems too large.

© Ian Stephen, 2008

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