The Field by the Lirk o’ the Hill - by
Daytime an’ nicht,
Sun, wind an’ rain;
The lang, cauld licht
O’ the spring months again.
Daytime an’ nicht,
Sun, wind an’ rain;
The lang, cauld licht
O’ the spring months again.
The road was liker a burn :
/ But the trees in the glen were new in leaf,
/ Ilk bairn I met had…
On the Forfar ‘bus in a morn of spring,
/ A nipping wind and the frost’s sharp sting;
/ And I can’t tell why,…
On Sunday gawky and glaiket,
/ For life no carin’ a preen;
/ On Monday lookin’ forsaket,
/ Wi’ a misty weet in her een;
/ On Tuesday…
It was such a day
/ of sunshine wall to wall,
/ of heat haze and the year’s first frogs,
/ of blue hills stretching…
The dead spake together last night,
/ And one to the other said:
/ …
Outside the window is spring’s long animal, / the diaphanous dragon of sunshine / flowing past.
Three weeks: one field / a deluge / of births and deaths.
Noo the snaw creeps fae the braes
And is gaen:
Noo the trees clap on their claes
Ane be ane
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing.
I so liked Spring last year
Because you were here; –
The thrushes too –
Because it was these you so liked to hear –
I so liked you.
If I might see another Spring,
/ I’d not plant summer flowers and wait:
/ I’d have my…