The Bargain - by
The river in January is fast and high.
/ You and I
/ are off to the Barrows.
/ Gathering police-horses twitch and fret
/ at the Tron…
Curriculum Level: SQA Higher texts
View of Scotland/Love Poem - by
Down on her hands and knees
/ at ten at night on Hogmanay,
/ my mother still giving it elbowgrease
/ jiffywaxing the vinolay. (This is…
My Rival’s House - by
is peopled with many surfaces.
/ Ormolu and gilt, slipper satin,
/ lush velvet couches,
/ cushions so stiff you can’t sink in.
/ Tables polished clear enough…
Basking Shark - by
To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,
/ To have it rise with a slounge out of the…
Visiting Hour - by
The hospital smell
/ combs my nostrils
/ as they go bobbing along
/ green and yellow corridors.
/
/ What seems a corpse
/ is trundled into a lift and…
Assisi - by
The dwarf with his hands on backwards
/ sat, slumped like a half-filled sack
/ on tiny twisted legs from which
/ sawdust might run,
/ outside the…
To a Louse, On Seeing one on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church - by
Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlan ferlie!
/ Your impudence protects you sairly:
/ I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
/ Owre gawze and lace;
/ Tho’…
Tam o’ Shanter - by
Of Brownyis and of Bogillis full is this buke.
/ — Gawin Douglas
/
/ When chapman billies leave the street,
/ And drouthy neebors, neebors…
Holy Willie’s Prayer - by
And send the Godly in a pet to pray.
/ — Alexander Pope.
/
/ O Thou that in the Heavens does dwell!
/ Wha, as it…
A Red, Red Rose - by
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
/ That’s newly sprung in June;
/ O my…
To a Mouse - by
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An’ fellow-mortal!
Aunt Julia - by
Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
/ very loud and very fast.
/ I could not answer her —
/ I could not understand her.
/
/ She…