After John Clare's English spring, a modern nature poet catches the more austere wonders of the far west of Scotland.

Kenneth Steven's visionary piece comes from Island, his Collected Poems (Saint Andrew Press, 2009).

ARGYLL

All down the coast

The air was full of fish and sunset.

By nine the lemon-coloured cottages

Were warm windows glowing over the bays.

Far west the light a rim of blue and white,

Jura and Mull and Scarba all carved from shining.

On the way home we stopped to listen to the dark,

To the sea coming huge over a hundred beaches.

In among the trees, in windless stillness,

The bats were flitting, weaving patterns with the air.

That night I did not want the stars to rise at all

I wanted it to be like this and nothing more

Looking west into the sunset

To the very end of the world.