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Sea and Star


This is "an apple" that fell, almost fully formed while I was listening to Karine Polwart as she sang "You and I and the Sky" at her concert in the Black Box last week as part of the Cathedral Arts Festival. This may make it seem that her performance was so bad that I was day-dreaming my way through it, but far from it. The poetic quality of her songwriting allied with the haunting beauty of her voice is truly inspirational. Like any good art it sparks off tangential creative impulses in others who are receptive, and this song, indeed the whole concert, did such for me. The song above is actually about a love affair between the boat "The Maid of the Loch" and Loch Lomond on which she previously sailed, before being laid up at Balloch. It prompted the following poem which, I suppose could also be understood as a love poem, but which primarily expresses something of my developing understanding of faith as journey, rather than as something which, a la the BB hymn, we anchor ourself to... (I always was a Scout rather than a BB-boy!) I make no claim to my poem being as good as Karine's song... but then, to compare my writing with hers, would be setting the bar fairly high...


You’re the sea on which I sail
Uncharted and unfathomable
Unpredictable and incomparable
You’re the stars by which I steer
By day blazing your way
across the arc of the azure sky
By night the pin pricks of light
That puncture the darkness
You’re the wind that drives me on
Beyond the horizon of my understanding
From which there can be no returning
And when my journey is done
You’re the safe harbour
Where,
finally,
I can drop anchor…
David A. Campton © 2009

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