A Birl for Burns - by
From the start, Burns’ birl and rhythm,
/ That tongue the Ulster Scots brought wi’ them
/ And stick to still in County Antrim
/ Was…
Addressing the Bard
Beelzebub Resurfaces - by
A girnin, greitin deil wis I –
/ I wis auld, and feelin aulder.
/ Syne the heatin system burst in Hell:
/ It wis cauld…
Holy Gordon’s Prayer - by
O Lord my God, forgie this swither,
/ pray hear thy servant in his dither.
/ Should ah bide here? or cross the river…
Aw Jock Tamson’s - by
Moonrise, an maudlin in the mirk,
/ we coorie in, hoose selt, hame hawked,
/ oor labour thirled tae yesterday,
/ the morra pawned fur brick-a-brack.
/
/ Thieves…
Rose - by
Ye hink ah’m like a reid, reid whit?
/ You dinna hae a scoob!
/ And whit dae you ken aboot melodie?
/ Dae ye hink…
The Marble Quarry - by
For the second time in fifty years
/ I come to the Marble Quarry.
/ Last time, a boy, I came with my father.
/ Now…
Epistle - by
Leeze me on rhyme! It’s aye a treasure,
/ My chief, amaist my only pleasure…
/ from ‘Second Epistle to Davie’
/
/ While London’s steekit beh…
Dòbhran Marbh - by
Tha a’ chlosach air ragachadh
/ mar gun robh e a’ snàmh,
/ spliadh is ceann air an togail,
/ sùil is bian
/ a’ deàrrsadh mar umha.
/
/ Tionndaidhidh…
To a Louse - by
Ahoy there, prince of parasites!
/ At risk of giving you a fright,
/ you have been, estimable mite,
/ immortalised,
/ and scaled to literary heights.
/ Are you…
From a Mouse - by
The present author being, from her mother’s milk,
/ a lover of the poetic effusions of Mr Robert Burns and
/ all…
Fiere - by
If ye went tae the tapmost hill, Fiere
Whaur we used tae clamb as girls,
Ye’d see the snow the day, Fiere,
Settling…
Sung - by
Now only words in a rhyme,
/ no more than a name
/ on a stone,
/ and that well overgrown –
/ MAR- …