See Neil MacCodrum,
Handsome and rich, old-young man
Not wanting a wife//
Old before his time
Blamed Adam for Man’s doom
And losing Eden//
Old woman warned him
He might be bewitched himself
Somewhere in Orkney//
One day in the ebb
He chanced a crowd of selkies
With their seal-skins off.//
Bodies white as snow
They frolicked in the water,
Relishing the sun.//
Goodman crept closer
They fled off in disarray;
Left one pelt behind.//
Seal-maiden bereft
Of her means of going home
Had to marry him.//
Bore him seven kids
Orcadian yet half Selkie;
Yet remained home-sick.//
Four sons went fishing
In their boat with Goodman dad
Youngest girl stayed home.//
Eldest gathered whelks
Selkie Wife searched but and ben
For her long-lost skin.//
Peedie lass asked mum
If she could join the hunt-game
And what was its aim.//
“Bonnie skin for shoe
That would cure your wee sore foot”
Was the vague reply.//
Bairn’s face brightened up;
She had seen Goodman hide it –
“He gloured at it for aye!”//
Selkie wife felt bliss
Took the skin and fled to sea,
“Fare thee weel, buddo!”//
Goodman and sons saw
Two Selkies amid the waves;
Wife and Selkie Man.//
“Goodman o’ Wastness
Aye, I liked thee weel enough
But my life’s the Sea.”//
Goodman haunts the shore
To this day, looking for her;
She will not return.//
………………………………….
Prompts and interesting reading from: https://writersuniteweb.wordpress.com/
paperjacketblog 