Retreat

Here are the ducks beaking for a mate,

ink leaks from a pen, a robin settles

in the birch’s oxter, the loch’s there

long and letting something to sea.

Here is a roof made of turf, a ring

of pines around the mountain’s base.

Here is a nuclear submarine painted black

being escorted into the estuary.

Here I am in the estuary writing something,

here I am writing something, in the estuary of

writing something. Here I am by this sea

loch clocking in with the undertow.

Stevie Ronnie is an award-winning writer, artist and creative researcher based in the UK.

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons