once upon a time
hedges were sparrow-packed wing-flapped
long summer chirped
bees thickened flowers wasps warred
at windows daddy-longlegs dallied in curtains
do you remember?
out on moorland lapwings gathered
peewitting peewitting evening
sundews waited still stalking
as corncrakes crackled welcome
and those speckled starlings who swirled
swooped danced in nightly murmurations
giving way to flying mice cruising dark
pipistrelling the shining firmament
say you remember
at sea-edge those sucking filling emptying
rock pools where sea anemones open close graze
where kelp and mermaid purses drift
and hermit crab look for love
before
the ice came
before the seas rose
before
please remember
long summer chirped
bees thickened flowers wasps warred
at windows daddy-longlegs dallied in curtains
do you remember?
out on moorland lapwings gathered
peewitting peewitting evening
sundews waited still stalking
as corncrakes crackled welcome
and those speckled starlings who swirled
swooped danced in nightly murmurations
giving way to flying mice cruising dark
pipistrelling the shining firmament
say you remember
at sea-edge those sucking filling emptying
rock pools where sea anemones open close graze
where kelp and mermaid purses drift
and hermit crab look for love
before
the ice came
before the seas rose
before
please remember
Finola Scott's work is widely published including in Lighthouse, New Writing Scotland, I,S&T, and The High Window. Retired, Finola enjoys zooming, feeding and counting blue tits, and cake, not always in that order. Red Squirrel Press published Much left Unsaid (2019), while Dreich published her new pamphlet Count the ways (2021)