Studying for Scottish Lit...

Since I am studying for my Culture and Society in Modern Scotland final, and I am procrastinating, I will enlighten you with a few Scottish poems.

Elma Mitchell(1919- )
The Passenger Opposite
Everything falls asleep with sleep
- The wariness, the will -
It's hard to loathe a sleeping face
Lapsed back into a state of grace,
Naked, relaxed and still.

Even the hair is childish now,
Rumpled and damp and young,
The teeth unclenched, the hands let loose,
Both smile and frown gone out of use,
No message from the tongue.

The mouth has slackened, and the chin
Given up its thrust and drive,
The eyes have left their sentry box,
The ears have closed their subtle locks,
Content to be alive

Just breathing; and the eyelashes
Are delicate, and long,
They stoop, and soothe the fretted cheek
Which knows no words nor need to speak,
No scope for going wrong.

This is the sleep of train, and plane,
Of hammock, bunk and pram,
Deck-chair and hospital and cot,
Of slaked desire, of world-forgot,
Of I-Am-That-I-Am.

And if the shoulder's tapped, or shouts
Disturb the rhythmic bliss,
Will the face resurrect its fears,
Its irritations and its years
Or smile, and shape a kiss?

Here is my stop. I must get out
And cannot answer this.


William Soutar (1898-1943)
The Room
Into the quiet of this room
Words from the clamorous world come:
The shadows of the gesturing year
Quicken upon the stillness here.

The wandering waters do not mock
The pool within its wall of rock
But turn their healing tides and come
Even as the day into this room.

Hugh MacDiarmid
Empty Vessel
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.


And there you have it.