By Richard Wallace
Hoy stands on guard
as she always has.
Hoy, the pride of Orkney.
****************
The Old Man of Hoy
looks on.
*****************
Hoy watches over
The Pentland Firth, the North Sea
and flirts with Scapa Flow.
******************
Hoy is in command
of the tides and the currents
of water that surround her.
**************
She does not accept criticism
and makes no apologies.
She sees no need.
**********************
The birds and the seals are her guests.
People who come to pay homage and
trample her heather are her guests.
*******************
The crofters who dug up her peat
were her guests.
All of them; everybody and everything.
**********************
Crofters who built stone houses,
stone barns and stone fences.
These crofters were her guests.
*********************
Lairds who prospered
from the toil of their crofters
were her guests.
***************
The Island of Hoy
never favored one over the other.
She offered no judgment.
*******************
The Island of Hoy
allowed life to unfold
as it should or should not.
******************
She accepted the wind and the rain;
driving rain, driven by the wind,
the work of the devil.
*****************
She accepted the sleet and the snow.
Sleet and snow to kill the new born lambs.
Sleet and snow to kill the mother sheep.
********************
She accepted the blizzards that dashed the
surprised yoles on her rocks or
drove them out to sea.
*******************
She accepted all of these elements
that were unable to weaken her resolve.
Weaken the resolve of her people.
******************
The Old Man of Hoy looked on
without malice or benevolence;
never favoring one over the other.
********************
Hoy accepted the young folk,
eager and optimistic,
building their houses and barns.
******************
Young folk raising families
and filled with hope.
Birthday parties and school bells ringing.
*******************
Church bells ringing and
people making plans.
Dreams of a sound future.
****************
Hoy accepted that people
would move away.
People who were proud to be from Hoy.
******************
Hoy never welcomed people
or cried when they left.
She did not pass judgment.
**************
The Old Man of Hoy
looks on.
