Falkirk
Writers' Circle

ARRIVAL IN FINLAND 

by Catherine McArdle

 

Wings dipping, banking, breaking
through cloud mist. Sun strobing
rays on a jigsaw of forests and lakes
scattered below, like mirrors thrown
on a cloth of green. Sea stretching
fingers into flat land.

Then the city where a white Cathedral
gleams, rising above quayside markets,
and tiny wooden houses perch
on islands in the bay.

In parkland a monument stands
in memory of the great musician.
Embellished fluted silver tubes like
massive organ pipes are raised high
and his stem sculptured face gazes
over rocks and greenery to sea and sky.

And the music of Sibelius is there still,
in the rippling of water, in raindrops on rocks,
in rustling of leaves and the sighing
of a breeze in forest trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2010 Catherine McArdle. All rights reserved.