The dominie thocht it an unca thing,
The Mither tongue.
Like Sabbath braws, he glorified gentility
An’ hauled ma kail daily throw the rick
Dubbin’ the Doric orra, coorse, ill-fared
A peer relation o’ the Southern spik
Set by unsung.
The mannie’s deid or, if he’s nae,
By God! he should be!
Mim-moued, his cantin’ quate.
Nae doot, he’s since jeloused,
It’s deeds that mak the man – nae wards
A thochtie late.
1984
Waiter ay jines, leaves nae untidy seam.
A salmon loup’s bit a haun’s clap,
The neives knit ticht thegither,
Haudin sic thochts! Derk, as Excalibur.
Cast in a random steen,
A muckle, gapin wound, instantly healin.
So saw Ophelia, as she slipped her sorra doon,
Her raivelt wits washed clean awa,
As clear’s the meen,
A mirror, saftly sweemin.
1986
Mother, the life you value’s
A skeleton hung with bunting.
A saxophone brash
Blares out Duty! Duty! Duty!
Stuck on its one high note.
Mother, your world is trash!
Why can’t you let me be?
Dreams are mushrooming
Down in my charcoal chamber,
Under my muffled skies.
Mother, I like my colourful life,
Away from your icicle eyes.
With my Dark Lord
Down in the moist, dank
Alchemy of Earth,
I am becoming whole.
At last I am forming a soul.
Your thoughts are thistles
Rending the tender tissue
Of dream-time’s thin cocoon.
They are spawning serpents
Of censure –
I’ll stab them, like a stuck Laocoön.
The life you’d fashion for me is
A fetter, a shackle, a sham.
A gilded Wiccaman;
Cage of rage, of pain.
I am going to break with tradition, Mother,
I am going to snap your chain.
2000
dominie: teacher; unca: uncouth;
kail: cabbage; orra: worthless; coorse:
coarse; ill-fared: ugly; peer: poor;
spik: speech; mim-moued: prim;
quate: quiet; jeloused: surmised;
a thochtie late: a bit late
jines: joins; loup: leap; bit: only;
neives: fists; ticht: tight; steen: stone;
sorra: sorrow; raivelt: ravelled;
meen: moon