Lost Albatross
After reading about an albatross that set up home in ScotlandIn the bird world you’re surely a jumbo jet
but some failure in sat nav must have upset
your co-ordinations and somehow you flew
thousands of miles from the places you knew,
till a glimpse of mountains and ice-carved rocks,
of dense pine forests and deep dark lochs
drew you down for a closer view
and you thought to yourself that this land would do.
Far away from the southern ocean,
the heave and swell of the storm’s commotion,
the ebb and flow of the waves in motion.
And I really do feel such a sense of loss
for this sad and friendless albatross.
Forty years spent in such a lonely state,
forty years spent searching for a mate,
someone who’d make his heart beat faster,
help him forget his navigational disaster,
after wild winds blew him way off course
and he set up home in the heather and gorse.
Far away from the southern ocean,
the heave and swell of the storm’s commotion,
the ebb and flow of the waves in motion.
And the bagpipes play their saddest lament
for this lost albatross’s predicament.
but some failure in sat nav must have upset
your co-ordinations and somehow you flew
thousands of miles from the places you knew,
till a glimpse of mountains and ice-carved rocks,
of dense pine forests and deep dark lochs
drew you down for a closer view
and you thought to yourself that this land would do.
Far away from the southern ocean,
the heave and swell of the storm’s commotion,
the ebb and flow of the waves in motion.
And I really do feel such a sense of loss
for this sad and friendless albatross.
Forty years spent in such a lonely state,
forty years spent searching for a mate,
someone who’d make his heart beat faster,
help him forget his navigational disaster,
after wild winds blew him way off course
and he set up home in the heather and gorse.
Far away from the southern ocean,
the heave and swell of the storm’s commotion,
the ebb and flow of the waves in motion.
And the bagpipes play their saddest lament
for this lost albatross’s predicament.
This poem is copyright (©) Brian Moses 2024
About the Writer
Brian Moses
Brian is an English poet who writes mainly for children. He has over 200 published works and has given over 3000 performances of his poetry and percussion show. His poetry books and anthologies for Macmillan have sold in excess of 1 million copies. He was asked by CBBC to write a poem for the Queen's 80th birthday and was invited by Prince Charles to speak at Prince’s Summer School for teachers at Cambridge University in 2007. Brian is Co-director of the Able Writers’ Scheme (now called the AIM High Writers' Scheme) which he founded in 2002.
Brian can be contacted at brianmoses.co.uk
