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  • Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
    Iain Crichton Smith
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  • The Beginning of a New Song
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The Beginning of a New Song

Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith

Let our three-voiced country
Sing in a new world
Joining the other rivers without dogma,
But with friendliness to all around her.

Let her new river shine on a day
That is fresh and glittering and contemporary;

Let it be true to itself and to its origins
Inventive, original, philosophical,
Its institutions mirror its beauty;

Then without shame we can esteem ourselves.


Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith

from Variations on a New Song: poems from the Holyrood Poetry Link Scheme (Edinburgh: Scottish Poetry Library, 2000)

Tags:

hope multiculturalism prayers rivers Scotland Scotland Scottish Parliament

About this poem

This poem was read at the opening of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999.

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Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith1928 - 1998

Iain Crichton Smith was raised on Lewis and much of his poetry is grounded in the strict Presbyterian culture of the island, and his protest against it. He wrote both in Gaelic and English, novels, short fiction and poetry.
More about Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith

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