Mountain, water, love. A reminder of what endures, especially (though not exclusively) for those of us who feel years speeding, days shortening, shadows lengthening, and names slipping elusively out of reach.

This year’s Sceptical Scot poem for Christmas – so soon since the last one – is a poignantly, tenderly beautiful poem by Christine de Luca.

What’s in a name?

If and when I have mislaid my name

and stare at you disconcertingly

 

let me spend a day parked by Suilven,

perplexed by broken water. Turn

 

my calendar to the mountain’s season,

and set my watch by shadows on the loch.

 

Forgive me if I lose the reason that we came

or my gaze clouds in a cod-fish kind of way

 

or if the name I chose for you eludes me

I’ll still sense mountain, water, love.

From Dat Trickster Sun, a collection of poems by Christine de Luca, Makar of Edinburgh 2014-17. Available from Mariscat Press and published here with kind permission of the author.

Featured image, The Far Lands by John McSporran, taken at sunset from the top of Suilven, Creative Commons CC By 2.0