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hope

December Day - by Dorothy Margaret Paulin

{ Poem }

I ask no lovelier thing
/ Than this December silver:
/ See how the light flakes off the new-turned plough
/ Under the slow great swing
/ Of…

View of Scotland/Love Poem - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

Down on her hands and knees
/ at ten at night on Hogmanay,
/ my mother still giving it elbowgrease
/ jiffywaxing the vinolay. (This is…

Glasgow Street - by William Montgomerie

{ Poem }

Out of this ugliness may come
/ some day, so beautiful a flower
/ that men…

Chai ya Jioni - by Euphrase Kezilahabi

{ Poem }

Wakati tunywapo chai hapa upenuni
/ Na kuwatazama watoto wetu
/ Wakicheza bembea kwa furaha
/ Tujue kamba ya bembea yetu
/ Imeshalika na imeanza kuoza
/ Na bado kidogo…

The City of Beggar Children - by Roberto Sosa

{ Poem }

Where do the beggar children come from,
/ what forces multiply their rags?
/
/ Whose heart has never felt those fingers
/ pecked
/ by birds with copper…

وطن - by Mansur Rajih

{ Poem }

يا صاحبي لا تبتئس
/ وطن النهار بكرا .. لا يزال
/ والأرض بكر …
/ الحب خلف ضلوعنا ينمو
/ يملأ العمر مقاما آخرا ،
/ لم تزل في…

Ilka Blade o’ Grass Keps its ain Drap o’ Dew - by James Ballantine

{ Poem }

Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is kind,
/ And hear ye a’ life’s changes wi’ a calm and tranquil mind.
/ Tho’…

Awaiting - by Alasdair Gray

{ Poem }

He was, and educated, and became,
/ residing and remaining and intending,
/ then on became in, and again,
/ and later and later again.
/ He still…

Observances - by James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

{ Poem }

A boy row in a umman’s coatie –
/ In a man’s sark row a lassie:
/ Nor wash…

Scotlan’s Spring - by Donald Smith

{ Poem }

Frae the bud leaves are breakin
/ Trees are dauncin, branches sway
/ Blossoms in the wind are blawin
/ Spring…

Trouble is not my middle name - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

Trouble is not my middle name.
/ It is not what I am.
/ I was not born for this.
/ Trouble is not a place
/ though…

‘In to thir dirk and drublie dayis’ - by William Dunbar

{ Poem }

In to thir dirk and drublie dayis,
/ Quhone sabill all the Hevin arrayis
/ With mystie vapouris, cluddis and skyis,
/ Nature all curage me…

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Scottish Poetry Library
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Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2026.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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