Bladnoch
5th October 2019
Ablow the brig
we pit up oor tent
fornent the threit
o the onding
the misk o the haugh
wauchie i the dayligaun
an us waukrife
drookit wi smirr
tentie o watter
abune an ablaw
blatter an souch
the girse reeshlin
ilk syke and sheuch
wi fleet watter
reamin ower.
ablow: beneath | fornent: against | onding: downpour | misk: damp, low-lying grassland | haugh: river-meadow | wauchie: boggy | dayligaun: twilight | waukrife: wakeful | drookit: drenched | smirr: fine rain | tentie: heedful | abune: above | ablaw: below | blatter: storm | souch: sigh | girse: grass | reeshlin: rustling | syke: stream | sheuch: ditch | fleet: flowing | reamin: running over
On hearin Auld Lang Syne tae a different tune
Auld freen, yer new claes
are braw – fur a meenit but,
Aam stammagastert. Syne
the unco casts the kent
in a new licht. Forby,
ye’re dumfoonert an aw
at hoo Aa’ve chynged. Aa mind
the turn o phrase the auld yins
would yaise at pairtin:
Aa’ll see ye when ye’re better
dressed. This new rig-oot –
Aa could get yaised tae it.
So here’s a hand my trusty fiere –
crossed hauns bring us aye nearer.
An when we turn oot,
Aa cannae see ye, but it’s fine
Aa ken the feelin o yer haun in mine.
freen: friend | claes: clothes | braw: fine | stammagastert: astonished | unco: unknown | kent: known | dumfoonert: dumbfounded
Dorothy Lawrenson is originally from Dundee and now lives in Edinburgh. Her poems, in English and Scots, have appeared in journals including Edinburgh Review, Frogmore Papers, Irish Pages, Lallans, South, and Painted, spoken; and in the anthologies A Year of Scottish Poems, Be the First to Like This, and the forthcoming Best New British and Irish Poets 2019–2021.
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