hearkenin tae operae  -

ootby

derk cluds rowein in

listening to opera  -

outside

dark clouds rolling in

naethin

i the moch trap

bit muinlicht

nothing

in the moth trap

but moonlight

he pents's palin  -

sin throuch the slats cleids'm

...jyleburd

he paints his fence  -

sun through the slats dresses him

...jailbird

a new mornin  -

speuggies' chirmins

droon - oot the warl-web's mirk

a new morning  -

sparrows' chirpings

drown-out the world-web's gloom

bombed schuil  -

refleckit i the bluid

a warl sypein awa

bombed school  -

reflected in the blood

a world seeping away

feenished quarryin the wurds

the cairn biggit

...rist in'ts shade

finished quarrying the words

the megalith built

...rest in its shade

( for Gabriel Rosenstock)

in a derk neuk

o plaguit yirth

a singul daffin glowes

in a dark corner

of plagued earth

a single daffodil glows

i the camellia buss

Reid Rab's nestin

...buds reiddenin

in the camellia bush

the robin is nesting

...buds reddening