The cadence of her steps

First, there was the ancient lyrical cadence
of handclapping, which scared the gulls
and attracted the eyes of rare passers-by.
It guided a group of young men through
the sound of the winter sea. Their faces,
carved by the one hundred and twenty-day
wind, burst out with the joyful laughter
of their youth, as they slowly walked away
towards Fittie. But then the poet noticed
a pensive old woman among them
and wondered if she would have given up
everything for the cold granite walls
of an old fishing village if there had been
no cadence warmly embracing her steps.