Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Champions 2020
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
  • Shop
    • National Poetry Day 2020
    • New Titles
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • unrequited love
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

unrequited love

‘How I pine…’ - by Tom Leonard

{ Poem }

How I pine for a hawdy,
/ yir really beautiful body,
/ ahm right besotten,
/ ah fancy yi rotten;
/ let’s huvva tet-a-tet
/ – stoap playn…

A Woman in the Street - by James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

{ Poem }

O bonnie lad wi’ the kilt sae braw
An’ tossel’t sporran swingin’ –
Wi’ dirk at the hip, an’ ribbons rid;
Ye set my hert a-singin’.

Girl of the red-gold hair - by Sorley MacLean / Somhairle MacGillEain

{ Poem }

Girl of the red-gold hair, far from you, o love, my aim; girl of the red-gold hair, far from you my sorrow. Tonight on the Sound of Raasay my hand is on the helm, listlessly the wind shakes the sail, my heart is dumb, aching for your music, today and tomorrow indifferent to my expectation. […]

Greek Tragedy - by Ian A. Olson

{ Poem }

They did not know they stood by Leukas’ rocks
/ (Where Sappho’s story hurls her from above)
/ While waiting for the transports to…

Just like Eve - by Magi Gibson

{ Poem }

I could have brought you
/ whisky to warm you on winter nights,
/ poems full of words to fill your silences
/
/ I could…

John o’ Lorn - by Neil Munro

{ Poem }

My plaid is on my shoulder and my boat is on the shore,
/ And it’s all bye…

Wedding Dress - by Stewart Sanderson

{ Poem }

A paper lantern on a balcony
/ in one of those old Edo evenings you
/ have read about, perhaps. Kabuki, tea
/ and blossom, wavering:…

Thrawn Kate - by William Hutcheson

{ Poem }

We gaed thegither through the rye
/ As gloaming dusked the dell,
/ He clamb the dyke, I wadna try,
/ And sae I said farewell.
/ I…

The Song of Wandering Aengus - by William Butler Yeats

{ Poem }

I went out to the hazel wood, / Because a fire was in my head, / And cut and peeled…

A Window - by Sami Muhanna

{ Poem }

Between the sunrise and me there’s a window. / So I greet my old friends the morning air / and…

‘Thug mise dhut biothbhuantachd’ - by Sorley MacLean / Somhairle MacGillEain

{ Poem }

Thug mise dhut biothbhuantachd
/ is dè thug thu dhòmhsa?
/ Cha tug ach saighdean
/ geura do bhòidhchid.
/ Thug thu cruaidh shitheadh
/ is treaghaid na dòrainn,
/ domblas an…

The Silver Tassie - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

The Silver Tassie
/
/ Go bring to me a pint o wine,
/ And fill it in a silver tassie;
/ That I may drink, before…

1 2 Next
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss