Memorial - by
Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies.
/ No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain
/ but has her death in…
elegies
Epitaph - by
For 2nd Officer James S. Montgomerie of the S.S. Carsbreck,
/ torpedoed off Gibraltar, 24th October 1941
/
/ My brother is skull and…
For Gavin - by
Gavin, it’s a beautiful winter’s day –
/ East coast, clear and bright. Let’s leave it there,
/ rinsed of all metaphors. Instead, let’s…
Webs - by
Tensile strength. You would have liked that phrase,
/ lecturing me on how a spider’s thread
/ is stronger bonded than a rope…
1936 - by
Oh Lorca, did skeletons show
/ gold teeth to you
/
/ when men held you down
/ in their terrible passion,
/
/ thrust the rifle deep in your…
Sleep - by
To my grandfather
/
/ Your sleep will postpone
/ the morning coffee,
/ so we’ll not be able to contemplate your blue eyes
/ As you sleep and…
Processional at the Winter Solstice - by
He has gone down into darkness at the wrecked end of the year
And is lying, gaberlunzie, in the needled nest of frost.
The arctic thrushes call for him although he cannot hear.
Heraclitus - by
They taul’ me, Heraclitus, that ye had worn awa’:
/ I grat to mind hoo aft we ca’d the crack atween the…
Dear Mr. Crichton Smith - by
Dear Mr. Crichton Smith,
/ how our languages mourn you.
/ Though the cottages on Kerrara Sound
/ are stoical in their grief
/ the lilt in the…
Four Directions - by
for and after Gael Turnbull. 3 July 2004
/
/ The garlic bulbs burst
/
/ bolt to attention
/ gone to seed-blossoms
/
/ long stems rise upwards
/ twirl and curl…
Conjuring words - by
i m Gael Turnbull, poet, 1928-2004
/
/ They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not…
Sung - by
Now only words in a rhyme,
/ no more than a name
/ on a stone,
/ and that well overgrown –
/ MAR- …