where

where I found a tree within a tree
an alder inside a rowan
the hilltops came down to the river
in a torrent of stone
and sloped through grass and heather
to touch the water
as it fled its source for the sea

where the salmon run upstream
to gravelled redds
the same round hills had crumbled
their long screes
left them piled with the river
bent about them
and the bracken banks still green

where I found turmoil and calm
eddying in the current
stillness coiled where the fry leave
their hollowed stones
and go while the old salmon die
and leave their flesh
to feed the river and the glen

© BH, 2025

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A long time ago now, we stumbled on one tree growing inside another. This was far up the Findhorn River beyond Quilichan, if you must know, below Cairn Kincraig. Another time, on the further bank, we saw salmon fighting their way upstream, turmoil in the water, grey shapes beneath the ripples.

Writing this, I remembered the life cycle of the salmon, how the effort of spawning kills them and their decay feeds the river and the land around it.