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  • The Spider’s Legend of Robert the Bruce
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The Spider’s Legend of Robert the Bruce

Hugh McMillan

Ah got scunnert tryin’ tae spin
a web for denner,
the stane wis a’ slaisterie,
ah couldnae get a grip,
ah wis hauf stairved by the end,
no even a midge tae claucht,
then a big lug o’ a mon cam in,
raggety, right dosser,
mair hungert looking than me,
stairted eyeing me up,
ah thought, am off,
swung like tarzan
oot the cave on a thread
thick as a wean’s wrist.
Seemed tae cheer him up.


Hugh McMillan

from The Spider’s Spin On It (Roncadora Press, 2009)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

anthropomorphism heroes & villains humour National Poetry Day 2009 poems on postcards preditors resilience Robert the Bruce Scots Scots spiders suitable for children

About this poem

The Spider's Legend National Poetry Day postcard 2009

This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2009. 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 2009 was heroes and villains. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages.

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Hugh McMillanb.1955

Hugh McMillan, from Penpont in south-west Scotland, is a poet whose work often focuses on the culture and history of his home region of Dumfries and Galloway.
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