It is beautiful and still;
the air rarified
as the interior of a cathedral
expecting a presence. It is where, also,
the harrier occurs,
materialising from nothing, snow –
soft, but with claws of fire,
quartering the bare earth
for the prey that escapes it;
hovering over the incipent
scream, here a moment, then
not here, like my belief in God.
by R. S. Thomas
from Experimenting with an Amen (1986)