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  1. Culture
  2. Poetry
3 February 2021

The NS Poem: Lone tree

A new poem by Kathleen Jamie. 

By Kathleen Jamie

(Photo By Getty)

Trudging again                                     to Lone Tree Look-out
high on the grasslands                    of Sparrow Craig Hill

pallid winter sunshine                  enlivens the skyline
scarves of mist                               wander the strath below

no sparrows, just a crow               cawing from a pylon
fox turds by a tussock                    pin-sized bones

there you wait, crooked                 elder of the pasture
I step inside your shadow             outstretched on shallow snow

our two forms merge                    my lungs breathe within you
may a mistle thrush sing              high in my branchy mind.

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Kathleen Jamie’s books include the essay collection Surfacing (Sort Of Books) and Selected Poems (Picador). 

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