MIGRANTS
Driven by winter circumstances
from their homelands
a flight of fieldfares
comes for sanctuary
to this Scottish shore.
Glorious orange berries
tantalising, plentiful, still
cluster on sea buckthorn
in early February.
Encouraged, waxwings
and snow buntings
join in the fea…
REFUGEES
They come to us for help,
arms outstretched with their plea,
heartfelt through to their fingertips.
They do not know our language
or they would know what they feel is hope...
hope that throbs through their very being.
They seek sanctuary from suppression;
safety from starvatio…
I wull keep oan loving.
Aye…..but I wull keep oan loving
the ugliness and the cruelty…
ah ken wull keep oan coming
but I wull keep oan loving….
and the weak wull suffer
as they aye hiv suffered
but I wull keep oan loving…
and men wull lie and cheat
as they alwies hiv
tae win so…
Anither shore
I see anither shore as yet unkent
and yet anither hinterland tae wander
and traivel it I wull…..expecting little
Aye….but that wull be enough tae satisfy my wants
fur they are fewer than afore….
afore….when aw things war possible
Sae I must mak mysel ready
for the tas…
The Ousted Socialite
She lay in the darkness
despairing of life and the living,
The dying embers of confidence
no longer giving
her sustenance, fiery courage
burned and wasted,
falling to ash without her entourage,
She had once tasted
Champagne and oysters,
Her heady laughter had sparkle…
Consolations that count
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Max Ehrmann 1927
You have to slow right down to basic everyday activity and being to identify and appreciate them.
The way we seize each new day, no matter how mundane, can be an oppor…
The inestimable value of gazofilacio
[ the treasure chamber of the mind and where we store our memorised poetry.]
It would be rare if this book did not contain one single line worthy of staying with you to the end. Introduction to Jorge Luis Borges selected poems.
When we first read or hear…
The Bothy
‘Cut doors and windows for a room;
it is the holes that make it useful.
Therefore, profit comes from what is there;
usefulness from what is not there.’
Tao Te Ching verse 11. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English.
Ancient stones, and here, I can smell their age
…
No Excuse Now
Oh,
the pain when the penny dropped for the first time;
the dawn when it dropped for the last;
and the time in between
when I thought this would mean
that the years of his shadow were past!
But,
the print of his thumbs on my limbs
still throbs. And it throbs
to the …
The Nights are Fair Drawing In
There is a quickening at this time of year.
The drip, drip, drip of the black
catches up on us until
suddenly we gasp
"The nights are fair drawing in".
It's time for a change of gear.
Tomorrow the hours of light and dark
will be equal and
this is a sign, a r…
© Fife Writes 
Lilian, our Chair, interviewed for Fife Today