late in evening the sky bruised
ringed them ugly and full
the sea moiled, black with heaving
feverish and wildthe rimless sky flickered with lightning
thunder padded and prowled
the wind woke, came like a beast
pawing this way and thatand the boat plunged and heaved
they held on in the scream of the sea
praying that as Christ had once calmed them
the waters might hear him againthen one of them looked and saw
in the midst of the worst of the night
a star chinking like gold
he pointed, they followed his armthe storm did not lessen the least
but their faith was made of new fire
they fought like men unafraid
and the morning was born at last
This is an extract from Kenneth Steven’s wonderful sequence of poems, entitled A Song among the Stones, which tells the dangerous journey of four Celtic monks on their way from Iona to Iceland.
Karl Möller 