Borderlands at Dawn

BORDERLANDS AT DAWN

Close to the edge,
a monochrome sea
sandwiches
a shoreline
suffocated by
an unlightening sky

Here is the Border.
The train hurls on
fleeing the sun
as it chases the departing night
en route to Glasgow.

A source of power,
A silent witness;
this barren land
remains unmoved.

Though the land remains unchanged,
the culture does not.
Ghosted
by Solway's sand-scarred shores,
Scots fought to the death.

Four hundred years
of Romanic domination:
traces of settlers washed away
in the grains of history.