ON MACHRIE MOOR

Heather blankets the hills in carpets glowing,
A rich and royal purple Highlander,
Gleaming in sun, a blushing lavender
In shadow, thousands of acres of flowing

Plum and lilac, orchid, Burgundy
And mauve. The hues dissolve and merge
Themselves in magic kaleidoscopic convergence,
Edged by groves of pine in the braes, the sea

Beyond, and above the ferny brackens stretching
To moorland ochers, rusts and golds and jades.
The [palette] pulses with interfusing shades,
With subtlest skeins of autumn color witchery,

And today the watchers of all there is to see
Are only me and the Standing Stones of Machrie.

(160, September 20, 1994)

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Comments

On a Scotland island see here.

[John Alvord 1/5/2026]