3rd Prize - £75-  

         Harbingers and Rebirth - Eilidh Thomas

         under the bridge of stone

         between the living and the dead she walks

        in the early morning and

       swims on the high tide of last night’s moon

       he is home late

       at the back of dawn – the Horseman  

       in silence she slips on a pair of sealskin slippers to carry her

       along the path that is growing so fast

       then without a word but whispers

       she is whisked away through the down

       of rosebay willow herb into the harvest field

      the black sentinels are waiting

      for her with kindness and love in their eyes

      they watch, two by two, each holding a candle until

      a thousand freckles of light, light her way

      without fear she knows he will be with her

      soon, and calmly she lets him take her hand

      before long she is dancing

      down the crow steps along the corbie wells

       music dusts the nape of her neck

      and she looks up smiling as clouds

      of charcoal embers fill the sunset sky

                                                                            .