Bàrdachd
Bàrdachd
Poem
Tha i mar bharaille de sgadan saillte: chan eil agad ach do chròg a stobadh ann, agus dòrlach a thoirt a-mach, reamhar is tiugh leis a' bhuntàta. Stob an t-ìm na mheasg agus tha cuirm agad: Eliot is Donnachadh Bàn, le do làmhan rùisgte. Seachain forca is sgian: fàg sin aig na sgoilearan. Nuair a thig thu gu bonn a' bharaille sgròb na craicinn ri chèile, dean ràth chnàimhean, lìon lannan ‘s tilg sin thairis dìreach mu àm reothairt. Ma ghlacas tu adag, thoir leat i: nuair tha an sgadan gann, nì easgann fraighte fhèin a' chùis san acras.
Translation
Poetry
It's like a barrel of salt herring: you only have to stick your paw in, and lift a handful out, thick and juicy with the tatties. Pile the butter in the middle and you have a feast: Eliot and Duncan Bàn, eaten with your bare fingers. Don't use a knife and fork: leave that to the scholars. When you reach the bottom of the barrel scrape the skins together, make a raft of bones, a net of fine filament, and fling it over the side just after the spring tide. If you catch a common haddock, take it anyway: in the absence of a fat herring even eels taste fine when deep-fried.
Poet
Angus Peter Campbell
Poet and novelist Angus Peter Campbell was born in South Uist and now lives in the Highlands, where he works in the media.
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