Am Bucas
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’.
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
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.
Learn more
Ruaraidh MacThòmais
Derick Thomson
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.Derick Thomson
