I’m camping by the lochside
Beside the loch of snails
this is the place where they made their home
And that’s it’s Gaelic name
I’m camping by the lochside
In the middle of July
The night is clear
and the stars are bright
carpeting the sky
The moon lies low beside me
I could nearly walk across
the loch is like a mirror
I smell the fragrance of the moss
I’m sitting on a special stone
I wonder if it remembers me?
I cast my mind back to years ago
and another sunny day
Things have changed since that time
but it remains in my memory clear
and I still see a photograph
of me lying there
Sunny days and happy times
a time that couldn’t last
But I knew at the beginning
It was a temporary repast
Now as I sit by the lochside
with a smile upon my face
I feel a peace within me
water gently laps apace
Life is good and wonderful
as I gaze upon the stars
the hills mirrored in the water
age old sentries standing guard
I still make this pilgrimage
to this pagan ground
and I will keep coming back
when the summer comes around
So if you see my message
in the pebbles I laid there
then stop a while and think of me
and know that I’ll always care
Time for moving on now
like the curlew or the stag
seasons come and seasons go
till it’s time for coming back
Rod Macfarlane
