Dundee Renga for September - by
Sharn spreadin ootbye,
the air that thick wi the reek
ye micht sweem in it.
Sharn spreadin ootbye,
the air that thick wi the reek
ye micht sweem in it.
Tha brìgh na deirce
mìlse nas seirbhe
na gèire deilge
a’ stailceadh làimh’
Saoraidh e a sholas dìblidh
bho chiont na Dùbhlachd
is caisgidh e a mheallan dubha
bho ùth am màthar bàsail.
Nature’s forces gather with common purpose
On the higher ground.
Wait till the sunrise on the new day.
Jist in time, the flouers whitely open,
The green leafs o the vines hae dwyned awa.
The insects o the hairst mak ceaseless noise.
The daith o leaves is roon the neuk
It peints them yalla, reid an broon
An doon they’ll drap like faain rain
In waesome Autumn’s dowie croon
In this one-sided love affair, declare nothing
but seen things, a burn’s low gargle and that breeze
from the sound cooling your path to its crossing.
through time
and sky and blood
sun passes above
earth spins below
They do not thrive in shade, need light
and space to grow.
The country is alive too-
the rocks breathe and even
the rain is saying something
dripping in a romance language
down wet windows.
They grow in fits and starts— scattered from a spare box you unearthed
in the garage— out of the soil you destoned for months, and sieved
and nourished with the compost and topsoil you mixed by hand.
A man writes a poem about the past
by an open window blistered with rain,
trawls the slippery contours of his brain
for a lost love, distant as a blue crag.
We will be closed on Thursday the 30th of November for the St Andrew's Day holiday. Dismiss