as a child
my parents' conceived
me here
amidst the heather beds
beneath
the sheltering beech

as a boy
I lay upon Corstorphine Hill
the moss beneath my back
my world spread
at my feet

here I became
a man
as crows prepared
their nests
and bullfinch,
robin, wren looked on
beneath the hawks' relentless gaze
eddying
we came

now as I sit
upon that gorsy brow
and look down
to where
those dearest lie
beside the old stone Kirk
my heart soars
as ne'er before
my child became this man
and far upon
the Pentland Hills
a shadow casts
its darkening fan
as my cloud
flies past
through heaven

04/28/2008