View Over Shetland's West Mainland

Shetland’s skin is a green tarpaulin hammered by the sun, scoured by the wind, and measured in sheep and stones and fence posts. The west mainland is a beguiling array of coastline notched with tongues of sky-blue water. There are coarse beaches studded with green, brown, and blue chunks of seaglass gone round and frosted from untold years tumbling in the surf. I pick up the sandy baubles and tuck them into my flanel’s shirt pocket, another small act that reminds me of distant loved ones. My guy ropes have come undone. I think Shetland must be the last place in the world to say goodbye to the sun.

The wind and sea are deafening, but there is so little noise in Shetland. I feel like a candle flame in a cavern. All I can see is beauty, but my light is not strong enough for me to see it all. Metaphors bob to the surface of my consciousness. A solitary brown crayon in a box of green ones. A flapping, plastic bag pierced on the branch of an ancient wood. It is impossible not to look inward and see the faults. But I would be blind not to see the similarities. 

Article Comments

  1. wandering educators May 10, 2013 at 9:35 am

    gorgeous!

  2. Hogga May 13, 2013 at 10:43 am

    so pretty!

  3. Gayla~ July 1, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Beautiful scenery. I like to search for sea glass. Somehow I think the places we visit affect us a bit like the sea does the glass…

  4. Suzy Brazeel March 23, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    Having spent a week in Shetland a few years ago, I was overwhelmed by its’ beauty. Some areas are stark, bare, other than sheep. Not many trees, except for a few areas where they have been planted around a home or farm. But the light is hard to describe. It’s just the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

    1. Keith Savage March 23, 2016 at 1:39 pm

      I agree, Suzy, certainly an otherworldly place.

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