The Loch Ness Monster Poem by Laurence Overmire

What is it that we look for?
What are we hunting in the depths of our
Murkiest seas?
What is it that we need to discover?
What is it that we need to believe?

Will the mystery solved give us some
Solace or peace?

Or is it the mystery itself that
Captivates us and makes our lives
Somehow more dramatic and more
Meaningful?

The Loch is beautiful enough
With or without a Nessie
Isn't it?

And Castle Urquhart
Is a wonder in itself
Scuttled back and forth
Between the Scots and the English
In the Wars of Scottish Independence

Still, we demand more from the loch
We demand a myth and a legend
And a shaft of moonlight we can stick
In our pocket and take home

There are monsters waiting for all of us
In the pitch black voids of our
Most secret desires

Until we can grapple with the beast
Without apology, full front
In the bold light of day
The hunt will continue and the mystery
Of swirling waters and
Silent bubbling ripples

Will endure.


(Previously published in The Ghost of Rabbie Burns, Indelible Mark Publishing,2016)