Table of Contents
Introduction Alexander McCall Smith xi
Love & Marriage
Some Ghaists Haunt Hooses Kate Y.A. Bone 3
True ways of knowing Norman MacCaig 6
Incident Norman MacCaig 7
To a Lady William Dunbar 8
Mary's Song Marion Angus 9
One Cigarette Edwin Morgan 10
Strawberries Edwin Morgan 11
The Shadows Iain Crichton Smith 13
A Red, Red Rose Robert Burns 15
Tràighean/Shores Somhairle MacGill-Eain Sorley MacLean 16 / 17
Watching You Walk Ruthven Todd 20
'I will make you brooches and toys for your delight' Robert Louis Stevenson 22
Sonnet Mary, Queen of Scots 23
Poems of Place
'Scotland small?' Hugh MacDiarmid 28
Scotland Alastair Reid 29
Scotland Sir Alexander Gray 30
In Edinburgh 1940 Ruthven Todd 33
Did You See Me? Robert Garioch 39
Glisk of the Great Robert Garioch 41
In Princes Street Gairdens Robert Garioch 42
Christmas snow in Princes Street Norman MacCaig 43
King Billy Edwin Morgan 47
The Starlings in George Square Edwin Morgan 49
From Auld Reekie Robert Fergusson 52
In Honour of the City of London William Dunbar 54
The Night City W. S. Graham 57
The Freedom Come-All-Ye Hamish Henderson 59
Islands
Island Funeral Hugh MacDiarmid 63
Beachcomber George Mackay Brown 65
Hamnavoe George Mackay Brown 67
Nocturne Lewis Tessa Ransford 70
An Roghainn/The Choice Somhairle MacGill-Eain Sorley MacLean 72 / 73
Hallaig Somhairle MacGill-Eain Sorley MacLean 76 / 77
Shetland and Ponies George Bruce 82
Voyage We to Islands George Bruce 84
An Island and Seals George Bruce 85
Bloody Orkney Hamish Blair 87
Childhood
Looking Forward Robert Louis Stevenson 93
The Whole Duty of Children Robert Louis Stevenson 94
The Lamplighter Robert Louis Stevenson 95
Winter's Awa William Soutar 96
Childhood Edwin Muir 97
Child on the Beach George Bruce 99
The Child and the Sea George Bruce 100
Boys Among Rock Pools George Bruce 102
Countryside & Animals
Proud Maisie Sir Walter Scott 105
To a Mouse Robert Burns 109
The Two Mice Robert Henryson 112
Propinquity Alastair Reid 122
On a Cat, Ageing Sir Alexander Gray 124
The Wild Geese Violet Jacob 126
Toad Norman MacCaig 127
Basking shark Norman MacCaig 128
The Twa Corbies Anon 129
Molecatcher Albert Mackie 130
The Hill Burns Nan Shepherd 131
Loch Avon Nan Shepherd 134
Summit of Corrie Etchachan Nan Shepherd 135
Birth, Joy, Life
A New Child ECL George Mackay Brown 139
To the Future William Soutar 142
Lily of Raasay Tessa Ransford 144
For My Newborn Son Sydney Goodsir Smith 146
At First, My Daughter Elma Mitchell 147
Mother, Dear Mother Elma Mitchell 148
Invocation Kathleen Raine 149
Daedalus Alastair Reid 152
From A Bard's Address to His Youngest Daughter James Hogg 154
Personal History Ruthven Todd 156
War, Conflict & Loss
Memorial Norman MacCaig 164
From Elegy of Jean Calvin George Buchanan 165
The Heart Could Never Speak Edwin Muir 166
Requiem Robert Louis Stevenson 167
The Flyting o' Life and Daith Hamish Henderson 168
The 51st Highland Division's Farewell to Sicily Hamish Henderson 170
So Long Hamish Henderson 172
Seventh Elegy Hamish Henderson 174
On Looking at the Dead Iain Crichton Smith 178
The Transmutation Edwin Muir 181
The Brig Violet Jacob 182
Departure and Departure and… George Bruce 184
At My Father's Grave Hugh MacDiarmid 185
The Horses Edwin Muir 186
From the Line Roderick Watson Kerr 188
Curaidhean/Heroes Somhairle MacGill-Eain Sorley MacLean 190 / 191
Latha Foghair / An Autumn Day Somhairle MacGill-Eain Sorley MacLean 194 / 195
Green Boughs Naomi Mitchison 198
The Mother Joseph Lee 199
The Permanence of the Young Man William Soutar 200
Final Poems & What They Mean to Me
A Man's a Man For A'That Robert Burns 203
At Robert Fergusson's Grave Robert Garioch 206
For Willie Soutar Douglas Young 208
In September 1937 Ruthven Todd 210
Going Up to Sotheby's Muriel Spark 212
The Clearances Iain Crichton Smith 215
Macpherson's Rant Anon 216
The Flowers of the Forest Jean Eliot 218
Biographical notes 221
Acknowledgements 235
