Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Burns Night
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • Nat 5 and Higher poems
    • Dyslexia-friendly lesson plans
    • Poems in Scots for schools
    • Rannan Chloinne / Children’s Verses
    • Nua-Nòs Gaelic Resources
    • Poems in English for schools
    • Scots poems for bairns
    • Posters
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Organising a cultural event at the SPL
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
  • Shop
    • SPL Shop
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • FAQs
    • Company papers
    • Jobs & Volunteering
    • Find us
    • Contact us
    • Making a complaint
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • sailing
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

sailing

Roger Hilton, November ’64 - by David Wheatley

{ Poem }

Sydney Graham reach me a hand.

A nighean a’ chùil ruaidh òir - by Somhairle MacGill-Eain
Sorley MacLean

{ Poem }

A nighean a’ chùil ruaidh òir, fada bhuat, a luaidh, mo thòir; a nighean a’ chùil ruaidh òir, gur fada bhuatsa mo bhròn. Mi nochd air linne Ratharsair, ‘s mo làmh air an stiùir, a’ ghaoth gu neo-airstealach a’ crathadh an t-siùil, mo chridhe gu balbh, cràiteach an dèidh do chiùil, an là an-diugh ‘s […]

The Greater Sea - by Rab Wilson

{ Poem }

Oor boat is rigged tae face the greater sea,
/ The day daws blithely whan we must set sail.
/ Hou aften hae we…

Aald Boat - by John Peterson

{ Poem }

Doo minds dee, whan da wind stöd wast,
/ I’d lay twa linns, and rin dee doon,
/ An tak a stane, an step…

Sail - by Mikhail Lermontov

{ Poem }

A single sail a blaze of white
/ through haze on a pale blue sea!
/ What does it seek on a far-off shore?
/ What’s…

At Eighty - by Edwin Morgan

{ Poem }

Push the boat out, compañeros,
push the boat out, whatever the sea.
Who says we cannot guide ourselves
through the boiling reefs, black as they are,
the enemy of us all makes sure of it!

from The Corsair - by George Gordon, Lord Byron

{ Poem }

The power of Thought—the magic of the Mind! …

Basking Shark - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,
/ To have it rise with a slounge out of the…

Manuscript in a Bottle - by Pablo Antonio Cuadra

{ Poem }

I had seen coconut trees and tamarinds
/ and mangos
/ the white sails drying in the sun
/ the smoke of breakfast across the sky
/ at…

Arrival - by Hamish Maclaren

{ Poem }

Now let the anchor find some long-sought hold
/ In deep dim waters off this purple shore –…

Girls’ Songs for Seafarers, III - by Hamish Maclaren

{ Poem }

I will knit him a foam-white jersey,
/ Soft as the breast of the mew;
/ Or, if he prefers, he
/ …

My High-prowed Sailing-boat - by Amir Mounib

{ Poem }

You, who from that first dawn
/ Have been built out of the trees’ body,
/ With a cry of joy, ringing the alarm
/ Of…

1 2 Next
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy (UK)
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2026.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library
Manage Consent

To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

We use privacy-focused tracking technologies to help us understand and improve the experience of our visitors. We track activity, not users, but you can still object to this tracking via our cookie policy.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
View preferences
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}