Porth y Wrach

 

Soon a vortex of sea will bounce and rush

beneath the arches of Pont Menai

into The Swellies cauldron.

 

But for now,

in that eerie moment before

the hidden moon sighs and

the tides turn,

boats rest easy 

on still, high water.

 

Reflections skitter-glitter

in fast ripples; chasing over

blocks of hewn boulders where

saxicolous lichens trace

glowing sigals

in clear winter light.

 

On the granite pier above

a herring gull perches on a single leg.

One ruined flipper is twisted

pink as an ancient scar.

Her feathers are fading into old age,

blanched to dusty black and grey.

 

 

Yet her fierce, ancient gaze conjures

heat from November sun.

Her red- rimmed eyes

discern the silver mackerel twisting

deep in green waters.

The sacrificial knife of her beak

rakes through the shoal,

guts a single fish as it swims,

carves strange forms in the white foam.

 

She who can swoop and glide

through Western winds

and winter seas

remains the mistress of this place.

 

Larus argentatus.

Her name a spell,

slipping whispered over your tongue.

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Porth y Wrach translates as Harbour of the Witch.

Pont Menai is the suspension bridge joining Anglesey to the Welsh mainland.

Saxicolous lichens can grow on stone.

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* A sigal is a magic symbol.

 *Larus argentatus is the Latin name for a herring gull.

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Today, I will not write….

 

of wind whooping,

of waves washing, of billows breaking,

of salt waters surging,

of sunlight streaming, of clouds scudding,

of small boats skimming the shallows,

of cormorants scuba diving,

of herons poised to pounce,

of seabirds swirling songs above the sea fret

of sandbanks shimmering,

of mudflats mirroring the sky,

of high peaks patrolling the horizon.

 

Iwill not write about the sea… today.

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