All the Clouds

All the Clouds
by Kevin MacNeil (Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides)

And it would be simpler to contain all the clouds
in a single jar unlidded
than to expect this love to be returned.
Just as the wind - breathless - carries a song
and never quietens its bustle to listen,
just as a bird's shadow streams over a lake,
just as our country exists and it doesn't,
and just as our world's original dawn
will never again equal itself, but rises blushing
that it be admired as a constant failing,
so you are here and are not here,
your face a brighter mist in my dreams gently fading.




'Ille Dhuinn, 'S Toigh Leam Thu perfomed by Julie Fowlis