Ireland Wildlife Wildside Wexford Irish Natural History

Kittiwake

Razorbill

The Grey Seal
by
Don Conroy

Gannet

The ragged cliffs are silent now,
No hint of mighty colonies
Of razorbill, guillemot and kittiwake
That tussled for ledge-space in summer light
On dazzling, dizzy heights.

Grey Seal

Occasional ghostly forms of gannet and fulmar
Flit in and out of the silent cloaking fog.

Moisture coats my binocular lenses
As I wait patiently on slippery rocks
Watching the weather close in.

Paper buckles and hands become numb
As I clutch pencil and pad to capture
Elusive forms.

I know they're there. I hear
Siren calls from shrouded island homes.

Those eerie songs sing of 'Selkies',
Beautiful people of the sea
Who come to visit our land-locked race
But never staying too long
Out of their seal-fur coats,
Always ready to return
When the sea calls.

Darkness embraces the pearly fog;
It's time to leave and try another day.

But wait! A dark shape appears
Below the white foam,
A grey seal breaks the surface skin
Staring at me with wild curiosity,
A lightning sketch of lines and shapes.

Moments later it slips away under the marbled water.

I've captured its form
In those dark liquid eyes.

Has it captured mine?

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