showtime

more than a hope, a miracle!

Woke up in rain, and went to school as a normal end of a week… And as I sat by the window, clouds broke at the exact moment! So we witnessed a spectacle of moon & sun at the end of the first period, Social Subject… The atmosphere was electric.



Pupils & staff from the AHS witnessed something really special behind windows filled with salt spray!



98% of eclipse.   It darkened up for a short while 🙂 

And now, just business as normal.



Welcome to spring, everybody – eclipse & Vernal Equinox… What a doublé 🙂

What a magic celestial show! 

Tour de Force

I did not want to believe it.

Blue

tossed a sky doomed

with dark clouds

tangled in 

rain &

Equinox. 

Blue 

celestial, 

sweet twist of fate,

where 

we wander 

inside a game of

moon & sun,

behind 

glass 

filled with 

fowl spitting waterworld, air

charged with sun-kissed particles

glued against panes,

buds of ocean

to remind us

where we

belong;

all 

went

quiet round

Bressay Sound –

sparrows and gulls

silenced by

shade,

might of

the 

tiny 

satellite. 

Day 

against night,

eerie,

ethereal,

   beautiful.

© Nat Hall 2015 

——— Lerwick, 20 March 2015,

Day of solar eclipse & Equinox 🙂  

smuha

There’s a tremor in the island.

A she-jarl emerged off a long line of masculine “tradition” of guizer jarls… She made headlines in newspapers, and I hear even in London.

She made us dream last Friday night.



Here, to celebrate such event, a humble triptych of poetry.

SMUHA 2015

For Lesley S., first ever woman jarl in Shetland history.

Acrostic

Skeo Clett,

Music inside sand,

Undo twilight to let us sing,

Hold torches high for a galley & a woman,

Aud, unafraid of world’s fire.

—-

Free Style

By the Atlantic we gathered,

blue-eyed dragon looked to Venus

inside a night fit for

a realm, where

folk marched 

as one with

fire,

down to

the edge of

shells and sand, to

celebrate Aud The Minded

who captained her boat

till its end –

brandished her axe

before our world,

stars 

assembled 

inside a

sky

fit for 

a Jarl & her

people.

—–

Avant-garde

Sleep

in 

the 

arms of the

dragon, by Skeo Clett, 

wild Atlantic, where stars gather

above our heads, home of 

the human fire snake

that comes to die

in boat’s belly –

woman,

child, 

man 

march

by your side, 

through day and

night around da Ness,

fire unites kindred

spirits, fills cups

with mead

after

twilight,

animates hearts

till final reel.

Now

you have

stood among its flames,

led your own crowd

to edge of waves,

and sang the

song of

the

Norseman, 

wake 

in the arms of the dragon.



Notes:

SMUHA is Shetland’s South Mainland Fire Festival, held annually South of Lerwick.

A “jarl” is a viking chief.

“Skeo Clett” is the name of the rocky feature on the northern side of St Ninian’s tombolo (sandbar that links the Isle of Saint Ninian to the mainland). 

A “galley” is a viking longship. 

“da Ness” is the way folk call the Parish of Dunrossness (the southern part of Shetland’s main island, itself known as “South Mainland”)

© Nat Hall 2015

Programme image courtesy of smuha.org where more information can be found 🙂 

full

Miss du soir

lune de mars,

mystique, 

maudite, mercurielle,

drapée d’un nuage à six heures,

dans un ciel cyan sans

concession. 

I saw 

the moon tonight, over 

Mousa, clad in a

cloud, doomed,

mercurial 

round 6 p.m. 

inside a sky,

inky, cyan, 

devoid 

of

doubt or

concession. 

© Nat Hall 2015

————– Sandwick, 5-3-15 

Note: No literal translation, but a moment mirrored in quintessence 🙂 



magic

rejoicing heart as the island regains light, clouds and frees itself from night’s shackles; celestial scapes gain in grandeur,

there,

I feel insignificant among earth, sky, the many voices in the wind,

relentless,

barren to the will of renaissance,

life’s many seeds still 

to be born out of

a womb free

from 

sorrow 

and icicles.

© Nat Hall 2015





Per mare per terra

Shetland, terre océanne, comme vous ne la connaissez pas – la face cachée d’un bout du monde, 

Avec trois portraits bien distincts: Bressay, Sumburgh  et Fair Isle, contés respectivement par Jonathan, Kieran père et fils, Neil & Lise. Et même si les visages demeurent familiers à mes yeux d’habitante, tous se rallient derrière une même âme et vision d’un territoire épris d’un océan et d’une mer, auquels nous nous appartenons mutuellement, sans concession.

Cliquez donc sur le lien pour découvrir cet archipel (ou du moins trois de ses facettes) SHETLAND un film de Laurent Cadoret pour une chaîne de télévision francophone.

Peut-être connaissez-vous un peu ces Iles du grand nord écossais en tant que visiteur estival – au carrefour du monde nordique… Eh bien, voici Shetland dans toute sa majesté hivernale, interdite aux croisiéristes pour des raisons de nœuds et tempêtes dignes d’un roman de R.L. Stevenson ou de W. Scott.

Bien sûr, ce documentaire ne fait qu’effleurer l’archipel et sa communauté. Néanmoins, il vous y fera goûter l’iode et vous donnera peut-être l’envie d’y dénicher bien des trésors. 🙂

Contactez-moi donc si le cœur vous en dit. A bon entendeur, bon voyage et que les vents vous soient favorables 🙂