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Scots Language Centre - Scots Language Centre http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk Updated hourly daily to give you the latest information from the Scots Language Centre Copyright: (C) Scots Language Centre http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk 60 en-gb Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:03 +0000 Scots Language Centre - Scots Language Centre http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/logo.gif http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk <![CDATA[Ille Terrarum]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/3151 from Ille Terrarum

But noo the auld city, street by street,

An' winter fu' o' snaw an' sleet,

Awhile shut in my gangrel feet

      An' goavin' mettle;

Noo is the soopit ingle sweet,

      An' liltin' kettle.

 

An' noo the winter winds complain;

Cauld lies the glaur in ilka lane;

On draigled hizzie, tautit wean

       An' drucken lads,

In the mirk nicht, the winter rain

      Dribbles an' blads.

 

Whan bugles frae the Castle rock,

An' beaten drums wi' dowie shock,

Wauken, at cauld-rife sax o'clock,

      My chitterin' frame,

I mind me on the kintry cock,

      The kintry hame.

 

I mind me on yon bonny bield;

An' Fancy traivels far afield

To gaither a' that gairdens yield

      O' sun an' Simmer:

To hearten up a dowie chield,

      Fancy's the limmer!

 

Robert Louis Stevenson

Selected by the Scottish Poetry Library

]]> Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:03:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Kin (Oreruravanar)]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/3096 Tamil

Like a deer, catched in a tinchel
On the braid fite, satty shore
Flayed hide turned ootside in

Ye may rin,
Taste freedom sweet ...
Bidin wi kinsmen
Anely chynes the feet.

 

Like a deer, catched in a tinchel

On the braid fite, satty shore

Flayed hide turned ootside in

 

Ye may rin,

Taste freedom sweet...

Bidin wi kinsmen

Anely chynes the feet.

]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:30:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Twa Traditional Malay Pantuns]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/3095 1
They weir bangles on their airms
I weir bangles roon ma queats.
They say, “Dinna dae yon, ye tyke.”
I dae fit I damnt weel like!    

2
Aaeech! Jobbit ma fit
On a stob in the bog.
Aaeech! Hurtit ma een
Watchin her briests stot
Unner her sark.

 

]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:26:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Sang o the Five Fiers]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/3094 Korean, Yun Son-Do (1587-1671)

Foo mony fiers hae I?
Coont them ...
Watter & stane,
Bamboo an pine sae braw
The risin meen on the eastern Ben
Weel-lued, a frien anna. We niver strive
Nae need say I
Tae hae mair fiers nor five.

 

Foo mony fiers hae I?

Coont them...

Watter & stane,

Bamboo an pine sae braw

The risin meen on the eastern Ben

Weel-lued, a frien anna. We niver strive

Nae need say I

Tae hae mair fiers nor five.

 

]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:20:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Hinna Gotta]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2847 Hinna gotta bairnie
Hinna gotta lass
Hinna gotta hope 'n Hell o
Gettin ony brass

Nae wirk fur young fowk
Wytin in the queue
Staunin wi the lay-affs
Hingin roon the Broo

Sez tae the cooncil
“Hae ye a hoose fur me?”
“Come back fin yer ninety
Ye'll hae priority.

If ye'd a timmer leg
Or a babby in a pram
Ye micht staun a chance son
Gang hame tae yer mam.”

Mam disna wint me
It's fecht, fecht, fecht
Mebbe she wis young hersel
In echteen-echty echt

Dog-pish, hashish
Aa I wint's a hame
Jist grant me ae wish
A place tae caa ma ain

Ony kindo cubbyhole
A place tae coorie doon
Then ye widna hae tae thole
Me dossin roon the toon.

Birds hae their nesties
Biggit in a tree
Gerron mister Cooncil man
Bigg a hoose fur me!

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:45:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Linn o Quoich]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2846 The Linn o Quoich comes rinkin doon
Far chieftains pledged their bluid in wine
Tae raise the clans, baith laird an loon
Fur princelins o the Stewart line.
An in yon lanely, curlew's airt
The deidly pact concludit, syne.

Aft in ma bairnhood in yon glen
The bonnie burnie teemed a gill
Aroon ma queats. Its watters played
A tackie game, as littlins will.

The waves war saft. They skelped an skirped
An skailed, as loud I skirled in glee
Wi shared delicht, we lowped like troots
Raisin a stooshie eidently.

It's forty year an mair sinsyne
It catched me in its glimmrin net
Tho noo I hirple, hippit, crine,
The Linn's as swack's a littlin yet.

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:38:00 +0000 <![CDATA[A Drap o Bluid Faas in the Wine]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2845 The bairnie at its mither's breist
Bides in a bield it sune maun tyne
A gorblie, cowpit frae its reest
A drap o blind faas in the wine

The halflin cairries at his core
The mortal guff will gar him dwine
A ratten chitters at his door
A drap o bluid faas in the wine

A lass pits on a gowden ring
A may, becam a merriet quine
A lintie clippit i' the wing
A drap o bluid faas in the wine

Sae suddent, as a glimsk o sun
That teets atween the derksome pine
Life's feenished e'r its scarce begun
A drap o bluid faas in the wine

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:34:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Ma Saul an I Gaed Waukin]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2844 Ma saul an I gaed waukin
The burnie flowed alang
We gaithered rowth o ikons
Tae steek intae a dwaum

Ma saul an I stude newsin
“Oh haud the meen fur me
An lowse the towes that tie the tides
Tae her cauld tyranny”

Ma saul tuik wing an left me
The wheels o wirk birred roon
A rose wis bit a ferlie
Fin as the dwaums dinged doon

The rose swalled tae a sunrise
An ben a sunbeam's crack
Alang the howes o fancy
Ma saul cam dauncin back

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:29:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Onchancy]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2843 Skailed satt.
A thoombfu flang in Auld Nick's ee
Ower the left showder, dispatched swippertly
Will some mishanter stop
Cheengin the weird yell dree

Dinna weir claes o green
Or sure's a cat's a hairy breet
Ye'll rig in murnin blaik
you Afore they're deen.

At the new meen
Niver glower ben glaiss
Lest aa yer fortunes soor
An turn tae aisse.

At Halloween,
Wauk saftly,
Fur the fooshty graveyaird kists
Are staunin teem.

Mind, speerits canna cross a rinnin bum
Efter a fearty quine, a fleggit gurin.
Be cannie, fur yon watter weel micht haud
The eildritch meer that bides aneth the flood
Wha tries tae tryst doomed watchers frae the shore.
Takk tent, an plant a rodden bi the door.

Fin midnicht brings the New year tae the Auld
Let nae fair-heidit first-fit ower the fauld
Or twal-month o ill-favour ye micht win
An niver bring inbye the flooerin whin
Fur yalla breem's the feys accursed flooer
Twill pyson the guidluck in ony booer.

Dyod lass, ye're ugsome. First o May, rin oot
An dicht the dyew o mornin ower yer snoot
Tae gie yer ill-faurt face a bonnie sheen
Or better still … gin a fite horse ye've seen
Wish fur a fire-new physog aathegither
An buy yersel a kist-fu o fite heather

]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:25:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Tomnaverie (Bronze Age circle, Coull)]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2840 Ilkie fit is reeted in the yird
Ilkie heid's a scaffold tae a cloud
Yon circle bides unbrukken
Bi thunner, drucht,
Or weety, sleety rain.
Ilkie steen luiks inwird
Nae chink in the ayebydan, clinkit chyne
Far sabbin wins makk eerie, fearie mane.
Auncient an eildritch as a widda's dirge
The circle croons the knowe;
Weird as a warlock's forge

It stauns alane.
A wummlin wirm, the mist wyves ben its weft
The faither-steen yokes noontime pouer o sun
The mither, milky bi meenlicht,
Is o aa warmth bereft.
Thon twa, the muckle flankers
Haive their lang shaddas far the corbies cooer
Dream their derk widdendremes

There is nae yett inbye … nae yett ootower
The littlins' spirk o life
Wis forged ower a flint altar
Weirin the wechty halter
O eternity.
A birthin bed they cudna jink nur flee
Preened tae bitter air
That fussles winter-blawn
Throw their unhaly lair

The circle rears its ghaistly hull o been
A tomb … or temple cast in Druid steen.

]]> Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:31:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Yule]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2839 Yule. O a suddenty,
A robin blossoms like a poppy flooer
A rodden wags its airms
(A timmer daddylanglegs, tiltin at the haar)
Sun's wizzened ee glowers doon
Deid parks haud taiglet sheep
Dreich, dour an soor
Birks staun Bach-broon in glaur.

Far deil the birdies threep,
A burnie tummles, thirled noo tae Winter
Its ilkie drap, a linn.

A deein rattle is the chitterin whin
Time skreichs, a brukken winmill, hingin bi a threid
Day rochles in the thrapple, jeels the bluid.

The sabbin ocean reels an rives aneth the lift's fite mawe.
Waves strive like sodjers, in the battle-thraw.

Yuletide, a carlin-wife, is
Wirkin her witcherie, ower ane an aa.

]]> Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:21:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The Lion Rampant]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2838 “Oh the lion is aff the flag again
An reengin the countryside” …
Bit fin he wun ower the Muckle Mounth
He didna sikk lang tae bide!
Fur aabody Furth o the Doric North
Wis a bitticky antiqueerian
Wi a Phd. in a Lallans key
As modern as Shakespearean

Hid he bin a literary breet
He'd bin shipped tae cauld Siberia
Gin he'd roared oot “fa” insteid o “Wha”
The purists wad hae hysteria

Oh the academe, wi its bee-bunnet theme
(Weel awa frae the buts an bens)
Howk wards lang deid, tae stap in a screed
Nae ane in a thoosan kens.

“Ochone,” cries the lion, “Fit a mineer
Ye've nane o ye cheenged a bit
Wi yer wee cliques there, an yer wee cliques here
Yer aa sae thrawn, an yer aa sae sweir
That nane o ye see fur aa yer steer
Scots is a spikk, nae Haly Writ.”

“The Bible's read on the Sabbath day
(Or a twa, three times a year)
Maist ay bi a priest or a dominie
Fa's steepit his hams in lear

Fin I wis young, man, the guid Scots tongue
Roon Buchan, an Mar an Mearns
Wis alive in the mou (Nae a screive fur a few
A museum piece fur bairns)

Ye'll nae unite, gin ye fleer an flyte
Ower the verra banes o the spikk
Faith, ilkie clan hid its ain tartan
An focht fur its ain peat rikk!

Like Chaiman Mao, maun we AA kow-tow
In yer cultural reevolution?
Maun we aa sup brose in the same size dose
An takk lessons in elocution?

Maun we AA weir broon, an a Lallans goun
Maun we AA learn Scots frae a buikie?
If yon's the plan, fur the new Scotsman
He can steek it up his bihoochie!

Maun AA Scots boo tae the Embro ploo?
Can a spurgie cheep like a teuchit?
It's the same auld meen, tho ye spell it mune
Ye're a wee thing weet … We're drookit.

Gin ye canna agree tae differ” (quo he)
“It's back tae ma flag I'm gaun.”
An he lowpit awa, mane, virr, an claw
Wi a guid corn-kister sang!

]]> Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:17:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Rain-Cycle]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2837 Beltane. The sappy rain
Is sonsie's buds o leaf
It plaps like plashy puddocks
Draps umbrellas o dreeps
That hett-fit lowp an daunce abune the reef.

Lammas. A thunner-crack
Zig-zags as bricht's a meen
An aidder's back o lichtnin licks the lan
The droothy yird unsteeks its mou tae sup
Rain teems doon, reams doon man an muir, ram-stam.
Lums an winnock-panes are drookt bi the
Cowpit cup o watter frae abune
That swalls the taps o toon, the troch o tup.

Mairtinmas. The wechty lift
Grues sair wi nip-neb wins
The flooers hing deid
An birdies sikk tae shift

Yuletime. The Sizzens birl
Furls rain tae sleet, syne snaw
The warld's grown siller an fite, in the deid-thraa
Feather, fur an flesh as cleekit in ae vice
The steeny hairt o rain, that's jeeled tae ice.

]]> Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:04:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The Hallierackit Heilander]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2836 The hallierackit Heilander is scraggy as a been
Wi oxterfus o tartan plaid, steekt wi a siller preen
His tam o shanter faces north, his sporran faces sooth
He cowps a caber ilkie day … he's dane it frae his youth

He feeds his bagpipes usqueba, they gowp it doon richt weel
An yon's the wye ye NIVER see a straicht-furred eichtsome reel
He rins aroon the rugged rucks, a-chasin haggis bags
He's shot a thoosan midgies deid bit och, he niver brags
He cracks his spunks upon his teeth, he cleans his sheen wi peat
Caul kail, an oats, an dauds o deer's his daily howp o meat.

Far dis the muirlan mist cam frae? The rikk frae aff his pipe!
An fin it snaws, ye micht be sure he's dichtin doon his dyke.
The styew flees here, the styew flees there frae Birse tae Aiberdeen
There's drifts on ilkie Ben, until his winter cleanin's deen.

]]> Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:54:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Original Sin]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2834 Aa ower ae aipple
The serpent maun crawl in the stoor
An Eve, the original hoor
Maun thole the stouns o Hell
In bearin a bairn

Adam, the puir, glekit body
Fur haein a haun in the hale concern
Wis pitten oot o his gairden
Awa frae his bonnie flooers
An luikin doon, wis affrontit
Tae fin he wis nyaakit
Sae happit his dockum frae sicht.

Aa richt.
We ken that Eve ettin the aipple
Caused the hale misfittin affair.
There's iist the ae thing that I'm winnerin
FA PIT THE DAMNT THING THERE?

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:13:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The Hinmaist Wird]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2833 Fin they lower the towes frae day tae the dowie dark
An the warldly claes I hae, is a timmer sack
Oh dinna be sweir tae cowp the clay ower me
Fur its anely a pucklie banes tae the mools ye'll gie!

The braith o' me'll wheeple up far the peesies cry
Frae the cauld, clean braes o Coull, tae the salmon sky
An the sicht o' me'll feast richt full on the lang linn's faa
Far the showders o Lochnagar rise tap o' aa.

Oh dinna be laith tae bid me the last fareweel
Frae a warld far the weird I dreed wis a cankered dreel
Fur I'll be the preen-prick frost, that flooers in the snaw
The sang in the uplan burn, in the April thaw.

Tint in the fir-wid's gloamin, there I'll be
In the mornin dyew that glimmers frae tree tae tree
An laich far the barley reeshles her gowden goun
I'll be the glint in the girse at the lang rig's foun.

Daith anely frichtens fowk wi gear tae ain
Bit I hae naethin tae loss, an aa tae gain.

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:13:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Let the Records Show]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2832 Born fin they'd selt the pram
Intae a clan comprisin o ae dug
A father, mither, granny, an a brither
Fad hae raither hid a metronome insteid
“I wish they'd pit her back again,” he said.

At five I failed the IQ test fur High
Wis sweir tae tell the wifie, the pig bedd in the sty
An wadna coont ma nummers up tae ten
Convinced she maun be glekit nae tae ken.

“How many legs has horsie?” she speired neist
I steekt ma mou, rebellion in ma breist
“No academic bent” wis her summation
Sae Mile-End Schule gied me an education
I liked it yonder, fin it poored wi rain
The lavvies floodit an the class wun hame.

On Sabbath days we traivelled tae a fairm
Wir kinfolk ained. I powkit in the barn
Flegged kittlins, howkit hoosies in the strae
Dinged doon the stooks, caad clockers aff the lay
An ilkie holiday, wir hale jing bang set furth
Fur Byron kintra, an a Heilan hearth.

Reared a Scot,
I learned a leid an wyes the lave forgot.
A halflin, aged eleeven, gey bumshayvelt
Tae yon first fantoosh place o lear I traivelled
Fur five lang years o weary, dreichsome trauchle
Its genteel teachers tuik me fur a bauchle!

Lowsed at saxteen, tae Art schule, rank an roch
I skippit aff, tae be the neist Van Gogh
Failed ilkie dam't exam, an wi a grue
Tuik T.C. trainin syne, tae jink the Broo

Ochone … yon darg wis waur nur Passchendaele
I'd raither stap ma heid aneth a flail
Tae thole, day in, day oot, young limmers' jaw
S'like haein aa yer hams, sliced wi a saw

An sae I merriet. Reared a faimily
Thinkin twid be the verra dab fur me
We'll let yon flee stick, wummlin tae the waa
There's faats aa roon at ony biggin's faa
I wield ma pen. It's sootherin, yon's a fack
A verse or story niver answers back.

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:09:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The Fish Gutter's Sang]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2831 Haud the fishie bi the gills
Rug the knife alang its belly
Banes are staunin up like quills
Haud yer nose … It's awfa smelly
Dauds o fite, o green, o yalla
Yon's the guts the scurries swalla
Slivvery blobs like dauds o jeely
Aa come oot the fishie's belly

Hack its heid aff, an its tail
Guttin on throw snaw an hail
Cuts an cracks makk fingers reid
Satty clooties sype wi blind
Fa wad be a fisher quine
Guttin herrin frae the brine?

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:54:00 +0000 <![CDATA[I Am a Doric Stereotype]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2828 I am a Doric stereotype
I sup ma meal an ale
Syne wash it doon wi yirned milk
An muckle dauds o kale.

I am a Doric stereotype
I weir ma knicky tams
Tae keep ma legs frae faain doon
Wi jeelipfus o drams.

I am a Doric stereotype
The horseman's wird I glean
I've thrissles growin frae ma lugs
An sooricks in atween.

I am a Doric stereotype
I keckle like a hen
Wi horny hauns an sharny buits
An yaavins but an ben.

I am a Doric stereotype
Abune ma brose I rift
I skirl an birl at echtsome reels
An darn ma hose fur thrift.

I am a Doric stereotype
That thing ye'll niver meet
I whyles chant Buddhist mantras
An read Rene Magritte.

]]> Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:57:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The Chairman o the Panel]]> http://script.scotslanguage.co.uk/articles/view/2827 In Scotland, child offences are dealt with by a panel of three people, drawn from the general public. No qualifications are required, other than a sympathetic interest in children.

I hae tae say, o aa the chiels
Wha act the lay judiciary
I'm far the best at reddin up
The dregs o crass humanity

I've rowth o siller at ma back
Ma boatie's ay rowed weel
I've niver kent the bite o lack
Warm cled, frae heid tae heel.

Ma mither wis a mortal saint
By Gad, she worshipped me!
Aa weemin sud be vrocht like her
Oedipus? Fa wis she?

As this is nae a coort o law
I'll spikk ma mind richt plain
There's nane can garr ME haud ma tongue
I gie ma thochts fu rein

Nae lawyer tae cry, “Bigot, wheesht”
I prosecute an judge
I crack the maister's wheep betimes
An niver bear a grudge!

I like tae carve a pun o flesh
An tae apportion blame
As I've the richt tae dae,
Because o my untarnished name.

In wird an declamation
I am VERRA dignifeed
Jist speir at aa the errant sowls
The fowk I've crucifeed ...
I'm aywis ceevil fin I poor
Contempt upon their heid.

Ye maun be sensitive, ye see
Tae haunle this poseetion
An sae I am. I niver roar
Fin makkin my summation.

I tell them straicht —
“A mither? Ye? I doot ye cudna learn
Tae rear a grumphy's littlins
Let alane a tricky bairn!

It's aa yer wyte yer bairn's gaen wrang
Yer a patheetic sample;
Gin ye wad climm perfection's spire,
TAKK ME AS YER EXAMPLE!”

“I will endure words that hurt in silent peace, as the strong elephant endures in battle arrows sent by the bow, for many people lack self-control” from The Dhammapada: the right pathway of truth, a collection of 423 aphorisms revered by Southern Buddhists, translated by Juan Mascaró (Penguin 1973).

]]> Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:50:00 +0000