after watching a BBC documentary

 after watching a BBC documentary 

    now

there is mercury in the whales of the faroes 

and the birds they are dying in kind

for the tunnels from the past to the future

may be turning the tides of the mind

    then they come all the sentimentalists

with their databanks of absolute validity

when decrying of ‘this ‘barbaric slaughter’

are they talking to you or to me

   for the blood you see staining the harbour

is arraigned in the mete of every man’s quota

where the eating of whale meat and blubber

aughta keep us strong upon a stormy sea

  and the ropes and the boats and the daring

bring home the winged harvest of the time lines you see

that are etched on their wind-red faces preparing

to risk everything thing for you and for me

  and for our kids say the beautiful mothers

in their coloured houses and national dress

for on that day there is never any mourning 

just our stress on the rare life of these isles

and one imagines what the smiles of the elders will be

when they hear the faroese kids fondly say

that this is a must place for me