The Selkie

As Duncan took his turn along the shore
He found there she who he’d come to adore,
A girl lying there just barely alive,
Her long hair covering her modesty.
Gazing, he thought of his want of a wife,
Someone with whom to share his lonely life.
So, he took her up and back to his shack,
Where with care she gradually revived.

Yet from that day he knew she was fey.
So, he kept her secure with lock and key,
Less she be called back again to the wild,
Though he oft caught her gazing out to sea,
Where the seal-folk sang to her of a child.
And with her subjection that came to be,
Her time had come, she was not to be found,
For she had heard her own people calling,
So, he followed her footprints to the sound,

There he stood bereft searching out to sea,
Where a pod of seals was gathered around
A young female with her pup who before
Leaving turned around to look back to him,
And in her look, he knew he was too late,
His mind was askance for he’d lost his chance. 
Shore and sea the separation had to be.
His fate was evermore to pace that shore.

While his regret kept him in that dreich place,
Mourning his lost love now never more,
The memory of her his abiding grace.
Until years later now older and frail
He looked out to where he thought he saw
Offshore some seals with a young female.
And could it be it was her voice he’d heard?
So, he stripped and set out to dree his weird.

 © D G Moody 2025