Reign Of Blood (Poetry Reading) - A Haunting Halloween Special - Month of Daily Poems (Day 19)

My hooded eyes strain from bony cairns
of hollow hermitage, loamy
earth, tepid skies and shale shorn spray.
They look away to the west as
waves crest worn granite flowers,
and wind whips from Nordic shore.
I feel the thrum of my heart beat
with the approach of crimson oars.

The green beneath calls
A rhythmic aching murmur,
mingled with the cries
of Fulmar, Cormorant and lathy Turn
who screech at silent fish
that lurk, out of reach.
Darting beneath whelk worn hulls,
that shelter shades of fisher folk
who followed tides from berth of bay
out to grey ocean swell, tacking
the whale road. They dwell among
Reflected sheen of brackish fronds,
ghostly sheaves of ‘Deadmens fingers’
in salience of sibilant currents.

Arms upraised they Sing and dance
in the shallows of calm kelp forests
and basalt towers. A sediments sigh
blown on the winds of the tides.

Blood flecks sink like wilting leaves.
A rain staining upturned faces
as cushioned bells ring out above,
shattering peace. Welts of wood scar
stippled sky of dipping waves,
where speckled seals fly.

Harsh rain flays the quaking Marram
and the Norse men bray, and slake their thirst.
Winter's driven out with warmth
of blood and the moan of prayers
that founder in mud. I watch it all
from hollow cairns of loamy earth
while beneath the surf spat spray
the harvest dance continues night and day.
Washed by wearied eddies,
until the reign of blood fades away.