From A Distant Shore.

Like a wave crashing upon countless shores

A wild winter’s wind rages and roars 

Leaving debris strewn across rocks and sand

Creating patterns we can not understand

Neither decipher nor read

Rock and stone, pebbles and sea weed

From ancient and forgotten places they hale

Scattered seashells, sand and shale

Each stone unique, it’s colour and sheen

A beautiful reminder of God’s creation can be seen

From the treasure chest of Manannan Mac Lír 

Beyond those rugged cliffs so tall and sheer

Perhaps this boulder was once on a mountain range

In a far off land, so different and strange

Or that grain of sand was once on a distant shore

On the other side of the world, long before

Man walked the earth with such arrogance and pride

Under moon and stars and celestial tide

Perhaps it’s all that remains of that asteroid

Which roamed far beyond the great void

Came crashing down in fire and flame 

Like a fallen god who had no name

Across the sky, like thunder roars

Bringing death and extinction to the dinosaurs.

Or perhaps in Earth’s fiery furnace it was cast

In the deepest canyons and caverns so vast

Forged in molten rivers of fire and flame

A violent birth, then scattered over mountain and plain

A lifetime’s journey to reach this shore

From Earth’s beating heart, her living core.

C. Denis Murphy 03 July 2021.