IONA: North Shore

Following a splendid ‘Publications Week’ at the Iona Community,thanks to four real encouragers, an opportunity to gather three of the core themes of this blog - Beauty, Science and Care of our beautiful planet into a single poem.

IONA: North Shore

Where should I fix my eyes?

On the sheer beauty of the

today-azure ocean,

with its exquisite population

of islands and islets

hung about with gauzy curtains of mist?

Or, should I focus on the striated rocks,

the myriad pebbles

and the boulders marooned on the beach;

to ponder the age of each,

the intense heat and pressures they have endured

and their plethora of shapes

moulded by the constant scouring of waves?

Or, might I marvel once more

at the glorious white surges of the tide,

and offer up a fervent prayer

that soon, soon

we will have learned to harness those

immense torrents of energy

without despoiling
the entrancing beauty of the shore.