Apryle’s breitherin: spirls oot o cauld clart,
Risin wreaths o snaw flooers, still fite,
An betimes the showdin yalla-lily.
Wid this be gairden grun
An nae mair a park for tractors tae plou
Noo we’re ayont i days o furr-beasts,
Ayont sawin seed or tattie dreelin,
Ayont milkers lousin aifter kye-time?
Abeen’t, a ruint cottar hoose far a ricklie bothy
Derns roosty spanners, bowlie spads an graips,
Aa-wye, the fleer’s scattert wi reddins an muck
Far yows hid thir beild throu winter’s sair fend.
Foo mony ‘ears gien ower
Tae rain an win, did is hoose staun
Wi its steens rummlin
An its doorjambs bou’t an splutten?
Aye, a hoose, an afore’t a gairden,
Iffen we ca back i moch o years
Pit on a reef-tree, hale an theikit anent aa withers,
Plaister an saa, big chaummer, haa an airchle
Bring tae bide in’t, guids an gear, femly an bairns,
An mak is howff a hame.
© BH, 2017
The second of a series of four poems in Scots - Drift, Breitherin, Yokit, Throu-come - following the seasons, moving from past to present.
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