Lines

amid fern and bracken
the rill sings
                    of metal bridges, reservoirs aligned

pylons overhead,
lines crackle
and fizz, the overheard

now keep silent
on the emptied path
in the heron’s eyeline
near the half-seen shore

find an outfall
instead of falling
and a carpet of cornstalks
                    awave in the breeze

watch as she emerges
from the shallows,
mere shadow of black cotton lines
merging into white skin
at watersedge

and later,
the picture fading
from maiden to phantom,
pines creak and sway:
soft bark,
stripped light

[words and images from a morning walk at Torduff and Clubbiedean Reservoirs and beyond, Monday 17 July 2023.]