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Planxty Aran*

Blue the sea, blue the sky, blue the islander’s eye.
Grey of rock and rock and rock.

Black the stacked curraghs;
Birds on twilight wire;
Black the space between the stars.

White the gull feather:
White Kilmurvey strand;
There is white in the goat’s unreciprocating gaze.

Everywhere the dash of robin;
Red in leeside flowerpots;
Red the mooring buoys of lobster pots
Empty on Kilronan pier.

Lichen is spread gold;
So the hair of my arm in cliff-top sun;
Night-golden Galway pulses.

Blue and grey and black.
White, red and golden.
Rock on rock on rock.

And again.

*Planxty, an animated Irish harp tune moving in triplets.
Celtic