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Largo

Sydney Goodsir Smith

Ae boat anerlie nou
Fishes frae this shore,
Ae black drifter lane
Riggs the crammasie daw,
Aince was a fleet, and nou
Ae boat alane gaes oot.

War ir Peace, the trawlers win
An the youth turns awa
Bricht wi baubles nou
An thirled tae factory ir store;
Their faithers fished their ain,
Unmaistered; – ane remains.

And never the clock rins back,
The free days are owre;
The warld shrinks, we luik
Mair t’oor maisters ilka hour –
Whan yon lane boat I see
Daith an rebellion blind ma ee!


Sydney Goodsir Smith

from Collected Poems 1941-1975 (John Calder, 1975)

(c) Calder Publications 1975, 2010. Reproduced by permission of One World Classics.

Tags:

change fishing jobs migration pessimism Scots Scots ships and boats
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Sydney Goodsir Smith1915 - 1975

Born in New Zealand, Sydney Goodsir Smith nevertheless became one of the most interesting of poets writing in Scots in the mid twentieth century. 
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