Eynhallow Sound

Islands shift.

Dark           Light

changing places.

The distance moves forward.

Foreground recedes into mist,

like the wandering isle of Huldreland

riding on tide-races of light.

Overlooking the Sound

is the stone ship of death

still aground on the shore.

So remote.          So close.

Out of the dark emerge:

a quernstone. A flint axe.

Darkness flaps

like the curlew’s flight:

a flash

then falling

to merge with the earth.

Stephanie Green

Published in 'A Place Beyond', the Orkney Writers' Anthology, 2013. Performed at the St Magnus Festival.