Hugh MacDiarmid: Empty Vessel

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Stone fences, Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland: photo by Bug in Box, 10 October 2009

I met ayont the cairney

A lass wi' tousie hair

Singin' till a bairnie

That was nae langer there.

Wunds wi' warlds to swing

Dinna sing sae sweet,

The licht that bends owre a' thing

Is less ta'en up wi't.

Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978): Empty Vessel, from Penny Wheep, 1926

ayont = beyond

cairnie = hillock

Wunds = winds

a'thing = everything

Calling of the fields, Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland: photo by Bug in Box, 10 October 2009



Fields at sunset, Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland: photo by Bug in Box, 10 October 2009