Poem
WN Herbert
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Pair Harvey’s deid that draftit Finn,he’s crossin owre thon drumlie linn
whaur naethin nesh can noo begin
as green as grief
oor ranks are growein unca thin
wi nae relief.
Thi hoonds that hunt, thi spear that slees,
thi stag that rears his heid then flees,
thi harp that sings o scenes lyk these,
are been and gane:
noo he’s been cairried on thi breeze
they’re scarts on stane.
Fae Corbie Hill across thi Tay
lyk wagtails wurds are blaan away
intil the Seedlies whaur there’s nae
lug they could catch;
ayont, Schiehallion’s blankest page
whaur nane will hatch.
© 2012, WN Herbert
From: Omnesia
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books, Northumberland
Pair–poor; linn–stream; nesh–fresh and lively; unca–very; scarts–scratches; Seedlies–the Sidlaws.
From: Omnesia
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books, Northumberland
WN Herbert
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1961)
WN Herbert – called by Don Paterson “One maverick genius of a compatriot” – is a prolific, and prolifically virtuosic, poet, both influential in contemporary Scottish poetry and also inimitable. Following on from the previous generation of poets like MacDiarmid and Edwin Morgan, he writes in the Scots dialect as well as in exuberant, inventive English. One of his subjects, whatever his poem is ...
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LAMENT
Pair Harvey’s deid that draftit Finn,he’s crossin owre thon drumlie linn
whaur naethin nesh can noo begin
as green as grief
oor ranks are growein unca thin
wi nae relief.
Thi hoonds that hunt, thi spear that slees,
thi stag that rears his heid then flees,
thi harp that sings o scenes lyk these,
are been and gane:
noo he’s been cairried on thi breeze
they’re scarts on stane.
Fae Corbie Hill across thi Tay
lyk wagtails wurds are blaan away
intil the Seedlies whaur there’s nae
lug they could catch;
ayont, Schiehallion’s blankest page
whaur nane will hatch.
From: Omnesia
Pair–poor; linn–stream; nesh–fresh and lively; unca–very; scarts–scratches; Seedlies–the Sidlaws.
LAMENT
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