Keepsake book

Long before I had any pretentions about getting published I kept a book of quotes that amused and inspired me and - in searching out some moving prose to celebrate a life - I opened this book for the first time in many years.

This is how I rediscovered the wonderful lilting Norman MacCaig (1910 - 1996)....

Sounds of the Day

When a clatter came,

it was horses crossing the ford.

When the air creaked, it was a lapwing

a lapwing seeing us off the premises

of its private marsh. A snuffling puff

ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and

unblocking a hole in the rock.

When the door

scraped shut, it was the end

of all the sounds there are.

You left me

beside the quietest fire in the world.

I thought I was hurt in my pride only,

forgetting that

when you plunge your hand in freezing water,

you feel

a bangle of ice round your wrist

before the whole hand goes numb.