leaving
it’s still numpty o’clock
as the plane clambers awkwardly
out of Edinburgh
the sun creeps from the Forth
where the river meets the North Sea
showing the three great bridges
in silhouette
I smile
knowing that this afternoon
I’ll be home again
in my own corner of Paradise
on the Côte d’Azur
and my mind drifts
back over the past week
the highlight as always
was the day spent with my grandson
we walked along the Clyde
two miles in spring sunshine
from city centre
to the Riverside Museum
where we lunched
and revisited the once-familiar exhibits
before wandering through Kelvingrove
on our homeward trail
but there was also the kindness of friends
in Broxburn
on the tranquil Union Canal
and in Ayr
with its broad beaches
between two very different
but equally beautiful rivers
and its history of our Bard
I don’t know that
I deserve their unstinting kindness
I do know that
I can never repay it
and as I look down
at Scotland
disappearing beneath the clouds
I realise that
once again
I leave behind me
a flake of my soul
anelephantcant 