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Snaw

John M. Caie

Snaw,
Dingin’ on slaw,
Quait, quait, far nae win’s blaw,
Haps up bonnily the frost-grippit lan’.
Quait, quait, the bare trees stan’,
Raisin’ caul’ fingers tae the deid, leiden lift,
Keppin’ a’ they can as the flakes doon drift.
Still, still,
The glen an’ the hill,
Nae mair they echo the burnie’s bit v’ice,
That’s tint, death-silent, awa’ neth the ice.
Soun’less, the warl’ is row’d up in sleep,
Dreamless an’ deep,
Dreamless an’ deep.
Niver a move but the saft doon-glidin’
O’ wee, wee fairies on fite steeds ridin’,
Ridin’, ridin’, the haill earth hidin’,
Till a’thing’s awa’
An there’s naething but snaw,
Snaw.


John M. Caie

from ‘Twixt Hills and Sea: verse in Scots and English (D. Wyllie & Son, 1939)

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Scots snow
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John M. Caie1878 - 1949

A senior agriculturalist, J. M. Caie wrote about the rural life of North-East Scotland in the 1930s, and was the author of the poem about the vaunty frog, 'The Puddock'.
More about John M. Caie

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