Viewpoints

from notes and a draft by Kirk Saunders

by Donald Goodbrand Saunders

Every ten miles
of this scenic Highland road
there is a viewpoint
where cars dutifully converge and cameras come out.
There is usually an interpretative panel
that names the mountains
and keeps them in place.
Another one pictures
the shy creatures to be spotted
that no-one ever
spots.

I avoid such places.
I sit among trees, well away
from the woodland walk which labels them
and wait for creatures
to emerge
within my viewpoint
an ant on a stone, or
a crossbill on the highest pine.