Christine De Luca

...an dat's Havera

Wir aa bön ta Havera: a place twined
wi wir ain peerie isles; a green embrace
cut aff fae da wirld, wi hits ain time,

a graet sky abön, a ocean froadin
at hit cöts. Da wirld awa oot dere
on a different scale. Feelin smaa, an

hüld in hits bosie, wi da isle we lö
tae da sea's haert-baet, hits rhythm,
hits wye o bein. Affen shö skiled

da horizon for him ta win haem safe
an soond, mak hit ta da gyo. Wha's
no sowt a noost in some Nort Ham?

An days o dellin an ripin tagidder,
o layin by for a lang winter. Maistlins
noo we can only draem o sharin.

An whan a stranger cam, dey wir
a bed an maet, a dram, a göd yarn.
An, if need be, a sheet for a yirdin.

Christine De Luca, Shetland Amenity Trust, 2013