An Ear to the Ground

An Ear to the Ground

1An ear to the ground – and wait –
2You hear the chuckle and slap
3Of chop in the surly strait
4A thousand miles by the map?
5Oh no; it is only a fault
6Engrained in the rock of the mind;
7Remembered grace to the halt,
8Remembered sight to the blind.
9Whatever the world becomes,
10They will not leave you alone –
11The old impersonal drums
12Of leisurely surf on stone.
13An echo, following still;
14A silence, gathered and drowned
15In tides of a restless will
16To live again with the sound.
17It’s comfort in your virtue
18And penance for your sins,
19Till somewhere east of Cornwall
20The smell of salts begins.
RPO poem Editors
Jim Johnstone
RPO Edition
2015
Special Copyright

Poem used with permission of the Charles Bruce Estate.