He wrought at one great work for years;The world passed by with lofty look;Sometimes his eyes were dashed with tears;Sometimes his lips with laughter shook. His wife and child went clothed in rags,And in a windy garret starved;He trod his measure on the flags,And high on heaven his music carved. Wistful he grew but never […]
As I lay asleep in Italy
There came a voice from over the Sea
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
I am forgetting quite a lot these days.
/ My task-list is gap-toothed; it should run on
/ Like sequenced lights in a…
Though he that ever kind and true
/ Kept stoutly step by step with you
/ Your whole long gusty lifetime through,
/ Be gone awhile…
(for Ruairidh, who asked)
/
/ Wobbling like a wobbly jelly
/ Being a bucket for the rain
/ Sending flash-backs to the sun
/ Cheeking the sky
/ Giving the…
Dusk, and the mangroves
/ of clouds, which sit low
/ into reverie; Chinese dragons
/ mating or big woman riding
/
/ chariot, clouds thicker than…
Like Loppy, our local river tramp
/ his cedar shack festooned with gar jaws,
/ snapping turtle shells. Wood-burning
/ stove, nurturing stew and tar…
When the call of the hudud,
/ Echoes through the palm fronds
/ Carrying in their mists,
/ Visions, memories:
/
/ Caravans of high spirited steads,
/ Crisscrossing the endless…
Grandad says, yesterday’s locked away in the old building
/ I cast the key, feel the entire door
/ Keyhole’s not to be found
/
/ Grandad…
He wis just a wee lad
/ dibblin in a puddle,
/ glaur fae heid tae fit,
/ enjoyin haen a guddle.
/ He…
At evening when the lamp is lit,
/ Around the fire my parents sit;
/ They sit at home and talk and sing,
/ And do…
There are times when I think
of the knowledge we had as children…
