Haibun

 CONNEMARA,

County Galway, Ireland

by Adelaide B. Shaw 

Scarcely populated, an area of lakes and rivers, of melancholy and wonder.  A place of mist and fog with rain nearly every day.  Lushly green with wet, hummocky ground that never dries up. 

peat bogs–

meeting in a pool

runnels of rain

Black-faced sheep with curved horns, the “killer sheep” of Connemara, their rumps and sides splashed with red or blue paint, or both, to identify ownership. 

                                                            craggy hills

                                                    my slow mincing steps

                                                          behind the flock

 No trees, but an abundance of plants and shrubs which grow to amazing heights:  fuchsia, woodbine, hawthorn, rhododendron, ferns and several varieties of thorny plants.

                                                              floating fog

                                                       the narrow road edged

                                                          with clipped shrubs

Short and sturdy Connemara ponies, donkeys and burros work the fields and pull the wagons.

                                                              carrots ready

                                                   the gray mare and black colt

                                                              cease nuzzling

Rising above Lough Pollacappul in the heart of Connemara is Kylemore Abbey, an 1867 castle, now home to the Benedictine order of nuns.  Extensive gardens cover six acres, in marked contrast to the wild landscape surrounding them. 

                                                                flower beds

                                                             along a brick path

                                                               the rolling mist

                                                                  peat smoke

                                                        from the gardener’s cottage–

                                                                   turning back

LYNX, June 2011