Evermore

Raeburn’s  Rev. Dr Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, c. 1789

Eyes directed

beyond the frame,

paint forced gliding

where winter froze,

no world his ground

but a state of snow.

Thin steel scarring

sheared the groove;

clamped to the loch,

he interprets the ice

at the blade's edge,

only the ice.