Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Champions 2020
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
  • Shop
    • National Poetry Day 2020
    • New Titles
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Derick Thomson
  • >
  • Am Bucas
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

Am Bucas

Derick Thomson

Anns a’bhliadhna
aon air fhichead aon air fhichead,
a; cladhach ann a seann làraich,
thàinig iad gu bucas
làn treallaichean wèidhir is gloinne,
le sgàthan air a bheulaibh
far a robh faileasan na ficheadaibh linn
a danns uaireigin
ri daoinne a chaidh ’nam faileasan cuideachd.

Agus thuirt iad, beag riutha fhèin,
’Nach neònach gur h-e sin a’ cheàrd a bh’ aa
an àite bhith leughadh Plato’.


Derick Thomson

from Smeur and Dòchais / Bramble of Hope (Canongate, 1991).

 

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

archaeology Gaelic Gaelic the future translation Translations

Translations of this Poem

The Box

In the year
2121,
digging an old site,
they came on a box
full of odds and ends of wire and glass,
fronted with a mirror
on which the shadows of the twentieth century
danced once upon a time
for people who themselves became shadows.

And they said, contemplatively,
’Strange that that was what they did
instead of reading Plato.’

About this poem

Am Buchas National Poetry Day postcard 2005

This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2005. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2005 was the future. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages, where you’ll also find resources to go with the poems.

Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Derick Thomson1921 - 2012

No Gaelic poet has had more influence on the generation that followed him than Derick Thomson. As poet, publisher, and editor of the literary quarterly Gairm, Thomson shaped the development of Gaelic writing in the post-war period.
More about Derick Thomson

Newsletter

Sign up for Scottish Poetry Library\\\'s regular email newsletter.
Subscribe now

Events

Discover poetry events at the Scottish Poetry Library and beyond.
Find forthcoming Events
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss