The Gannet's Last Song ©

Written on seeing the carnage of sea birds wrought by the 1991 oil slick
which washed up on the Galloway coast from Corsewall Point to the Mull of Galloway.

I see the other seabirds fly
Soft glidin' thru the air;
Motionless in the summer sky
An' long to join them there.
I see young gannet's boldly dive,
Like arrows from on high;
The cliffs are bustling an' alive
Wi' the herring gull's cry.

Chorus:
O, the sea it calls me -
It's where I belong:
In the wind an' the waves -
You will hear my song.

Gullimuts - like cards a-fallin'
Fast fulmers dodge an' weave;
No-one hears my hopeless callin' -
Black oil gives no reprieve.
These heavy wings bring heavy heart
And how I long to be
Winging across the waves to dart
Fish in a blue-green sea.

My coat of death - it sticks to me;
Proud feather lay serene;
I cannot move; I cannot see:
My spirits fade and dream.
Yon rock I stood is vacant now;
My nest I'll never reach;
My mate and young will not know how
I died upon this beach.