the wind built up in gusts to match our hearts

Always admired Jo Shapcott's poetry - and particularly like this one from her (pictured) 1998 collection:


Northern Lights

We watched the islands from the waterfront
as though they held a clue to what was next.
The wind built up in gusts to match our hearts
and blew the café chairs into the water.

Police in boats fished out the furniture
with poles, making us laugh until the chuckles
rolled through us like the whale's back
rolls through water, like the islands

stretch through the north seas. I have stolen
some of the light which drenches you this midnight
to wish you all the islands in the world
and every one a different kind of peace.

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Jo Shapcott (1953 -  )

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