Taobh a-muigh na h-uinneag-sa tha an canal cho trang sa bhitheas e. Tha na lachan, na cearcan-uisge ’s na faoileagan uile cha mhòr air fàs a-nis, na h-iteagan aca laidir is grinn gu leòr gus teicheadh air sgiath. Tha am bliadhna a’ tionndadh, ma-thà, agus sluagh nam fèisean a’ lìonadh nan treànaichean ’s nan itealan […]
That night, in sleep, I saw the forest clearing /
by the moor’s edge, and the ring of his ashes. /
He grafted with roughnecks and a crude-talking toolpusher: /
their toil slaked fuel lines, lit flarestacks, stoked motors. /
Frae watter an stane an sun’s fire /
We cam, a crawl o birselt things
Given four pandrops knotted in a hanky, / told not to go down the rutted, muddy, fox- / and tyre-imprinted track erased by rain
I am knocked for six as a pair / of collared doves crash-land with a flurry / and wreak havoc like two busty floozies
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
