CLIMERICK: Schools of Seals That Bask on The Sand by Trevor Thorn

 KEEPING CLIMATE CONCERN

CONVERSATIONS ALIVE with... 

St Cuthbert’s Island, off Lindisfarne, Northumbria.

An islet under threat from rising sea levels. The islet

has been adopted by Eco-Verses as

a symbol of the global risk to low-lying places.

I’m back to the Island of Lindisfarne for today’s Climerick. After the nursery time of year for the colonies of seals further out in the North Sea and when the tide is low, groups seals congregate on the sandbanks between Lindisfarne and the mainland of Northumbria. Whilst St Cuthbert’s island is vulnerable to rising sea levels, those sandbanks are, by definition, even more threatened. Today’s Climerick looks to a bleak future for the sandbanks - and possibly for the seals too.

Schools of seals that bask on the sand,

sing songs we can’t understand

if ice-melt heightens tides

those sands will subside.

midst laments for once song-crested strands.

 

Find more about the thinking behind the growing collection of CLIMERICKS HERE