A poem read to us in class. This poem by Scottish writer & poet Hugh MacDiarmid, I think has now caused me to fall in love with poetry. Not only because it was read in a Sean Connery-esque lovely Scottish accent, but.. I just found it beautiful. So I had to post it<3
The first is the original poem written in "Scotts", the Second is its rough translation. Take it as you will:
Ae weet forenicht i the yow-trummle
I saw yon antrin thing.
A watergaw wi its chitterin licht
Ayont the on-ding;
An I thocht o the last wild look ye gied
Afore ye deed!
There was nae reek i the laverock’s hoose
That nicht-an nane i mine;
But I hae thocht o that foolish licht
Ever sin syne;
An I think that mebbe at last I ken
What your look meant then.
Translation:
[ A Watergaw is a broken rainbow, a broken shaft of a rainbow that you can see sometimes between clouds
— not a complete arc, the broken shaft of the rainbow.]
One wet, early evening in the sheep-shearing season
I saw that occasional, rare thing —
broken shaft of a rainbow with its trembling light
Beyond the downpour of the rain
And I thought of the last, wild look you gave
Before you died.
The skylark’s nest was dark and desolate,
My heart was too
But I have thought of that foolish light
Ever since then
And I think that perhaps at last I know
What your look meant then.