Thi watter taen yous oan a bonnie day,north sea canny as a favourite dug,naething tae fear fae hir bark ir bite.Hir treisure laid bare fir thi takin. Did yous hae a blether afore ye slippit awa,a gaggle afore thi sea claimed yous?A remember ye as thon laddie in class,thi ane that could eyewis mak us […]
Ochone o for na gillean departed, Sundered by seas from us, buried afar.Gone are the lads who were leal and high-hearted And we are now dreeing the dolours of war.’Illean, ’illean, ’illean, Sorrow may fade but your fame shall endure,’Illean, ’illean, ’illean, While flower’s in the forest and wind’s on […]
August 1934 There’s a thin rain of music comes across the poppied corn, Across the poppied corn and the sun-splashed sea,Crying, ‘Who’s a-going venturing, a-venturing, a-venturing, Who’s a-going venturing with all a man can be?’O, listen, listen, listen, for it’s far, far away, The dim remembered country where the ghostly pipers blow,Across […]
When all the stress and all the toil is over,And my lover lies sleeping by your lover,With alien earth on hands and brows and feet, Then we may meet. Moving sorrowfully with uneven paces,The bright sun shining on our ravaged faces,There, very quietly, without sound or speech, […]
Blue-eyed, white-souled; blameless in word and deed! —
How fortunate a thing it is to leave
This life in such a way that none may grieve,
Bu shunntach iad a’ dol thar raoin na strì
Tha ’n sin ’nan laighe sìnt’ an sàmhchair bhuain
(ii) ’S iomadh fear àlinn, òg, sgairteil, deas-làmhach, Ait-fhaoilt air chinn a bhlàth-chridh’, Tric le ceum daigheann, làidir, ceum aotrum, glan, sàil-ghlan Dhìrich bràigh nam beann mòra, Chaidh a choinneimh a’ bhàis – Tric ga fhaireach’ roimh-làimh – Chaidh suas chum a’ bhlàir ’S tha feur glas an-diugh ’fàs Air na dh’fhàg innleachdan nàmh, Innleachdan […]
When this blast is over-blown,
And the beacon fires shall burn
And in the street
Is the sound of feet –
They also shall return.
Will you forget?
/ When all the fight is done,
/ And victory is…
I wanted to write an elegy
/ without flowers. I know they’re a requirement…
Captain ! There is no harbour that is sure
/ Save Thy sure harbour. Over minèd seas
/ Gathers the dreadful dawn that…
Certain women. And some young boys.
/ Women with some uncertainties
/ but something they knew about
/ that made them need to say something.
/ Two of…
