the wingspan of gannets

Been over in East Lothian this weekend ...

... here's a snap of the Bass Rock (from North Berwick), which reminded me of this Gordon Meade poem:


Bass Rock

The foundations
Of this house are black,
A beautiful, sooty black,
With the occasional glimmer
Of emerald green, hewn
From the living bodies
Of cormorants and shags.

The walls of the house
Are charcoal grey and white,
The elegant pillars of guillemots.
The windows and the doors are the cries
Of kittiwakes and the cackling
Of fulmars blown on the wind.

The roof of the house
Is brilliant white, tipped
With black, and lit with saffron.
The individual tiles are over six-feet
Wide, the wingspan of gannets.

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Gordon Meade (1957 -  )

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