Nesting

By Alex Mullarky

***

Have you seen the wild wall

climb the fellside,

border to the clouds

where only the sky-giants' flocks

compete for grazing -

it is a nest, stone by stone

from the riverbed, the quarry

we built it, this is our home.

We do not trespass here

but tread, as we always have

on mossy turf beside sheep.

Shielded by great mountains

above dark hollow lakes,

great cliffs swelling out to the sea -

here we have carved our homes

from the trees, the earth

beneath a grey sky like the birds.

***

Alex Mullarky is a writer from Cumbria, living in Edinburgh by way of Melbourne. She likes to tell stories about adventures with animals and trees, mountains and magic.