Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Makar – National Poet
      • Our Waking Breath: A Poem-letter from Scotland to Ukraine
      • A Woman’s A Woman
      • The story of the Makar – National Poet of Scotland
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Spiorad an Àite
      Spirit of Place
    • The Trysting Thorns
    • Poetry Ambassadors
      Tosgairean na Bàrdachd
      • Poetry Commissions: Walter Scott 250
        Coimiseanan Bàrdachd: Walter Scott 250
      • Poetry Ambassadors 2021
    • Poetry Ambassadors 2020
    • Posters
    • Podcasts
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • Designing sensory poetry activities
    • Children’s poems in Scots
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
    • Exhibitions
  • Shop
    • Poetry Highlights
    • Entropie Books
    • Stichill Marigold Press
    • Poems for Doctors, Nurses & Teachers
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Company Papers & Policies
    • Our projects
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • ageing
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

ageing

To ⁠— - by Muriel Stuart

{ Poem }

When I am old and my quick blood is chilled,And all my thoughts are grey as my grey hair, When I am slow and dull, and do not care, And all the strife and storm of Life are stilled ; Then if one carelessly should speak your name It will go through my body like […]

The Turquoise Slipper - by Vicki Feaver

{ Poem }

News film
of a covid ward
lodged in my head

Care Hame - by Gerda Stevenson

{ Poem }

I gove sae lang at ae space –

whit else tae dae? –

I’m seein the white o ma ain een.

My Heart Leaps Up - by William Wordsworth

{ Poem }

The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Approaching Sixty - by John Burnside

{ Poem }

In the Central Café
/ in Innsbruck,
/ a girl in a dark-blue dress
/ unlooses her hair from its clasp
/ so it falls to her waist,…

Remembering Friends Who Feared Old Age and Dementia More than Death - by Douglas Dunn

{ Poem }

No one
Looks forward to being old and alone,
The carer with a spoon,
Visitor gone

An Old Woman Cooking Eggs - by Anne Shivas

{ Poem }

That’s me in the painting.
/ My face smooth and brow clear,
/ for I do not worry over
/ what I cannot see.

To Margaret on a Monday - by Joan Ure

{ Poem }

I saw you from my window, Margaret.
/ I was watching the seagulls swooping the sky.
/ The seagulls, I was telling myself, know
/ today…

Almorness - by Stuart A. Paterson

{ Poem }

The tide is sidling up to Almorness, / unmet by those returned now north & west / away from here.

The Way - by Edwin Muir

{ Poem }

Friend, I have lost the way.
/ The way leads on.
/ Is there another way?
/ The way is one.
/ I must retrace the track.
/ It’s lost…

On a Birthday - by Marion Angus

{ Poem }

Time, why are you going so fast?
/ I like not furious paces.
/ Milestones glimmer and then are past,
/ …

As Time Draws Near - by Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith

{ Poem }

As time draws near
/ the end of our days
/ and the plates fall
/
/ away from our knees,
/ let us not be…

1 2 3 … 7 Next
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2022.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library