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Eidfjord

Silent save for paddles slicing

Evenly from side to side

Gliding across glacial waters

Out of Eidfjord on the tide.

Skirt the ship, slip past the river

Where the current speeds up on

Past the pine trees of Hardanger

Past boat-houses and the run

Of the waters on toward Sima

And the heights of Hengegard

Turn to face Vassili egga

Granite sheen above the fjord.

Glacier sliced and stream eroded

Grey cliffs glint in morning light

Indifferent to the line of kayaks

Awestruck, humbled, at their sight.

Cut the surface to move forward

Dip the paddle, sink the blade

Skim the craft across the water

To the falls at Jotengade.

Pause beneath the cleft-cut torrent

Tumbling to the rocks below

Where winter ice and summer storm clouds

Mingle with the melting snow.

Pause to recognise your presence

Free this moment to adore

Recognise in fjord and mountain

All that you created, for

You are in the moving waters

You are in the mists above

You are in the engulfing silence

In the vastness of your love.

Brian Hick autumn 2013 cruise Norway fjords

©copyright Sally Hick 30.10.24