Howe

They cling like limpets to the rocky steep

These cottages that flank the winding road

Climbing the Mull; or like precarious load

Of packages on a hunchback.  The sheep

Graze on the hillside and a lofty sweep

Of sky crowns all.  Here ancient thatched abode

And modern villa mingle in a code

That spells a message obvious yet deep.

Two worlds are ever with us, new and old;

One ever yielding slowly, stubbornly;

One ever gaining, growing ever bold,

Proclaiming life’s urgent variety;

And as we gaze the ages are unrolled

In all their flux and immortality.

Mona’s Herald     21.3.61