Sheila Templeton of Glasgow shares joint first prize, and wins £875, in the 2016 James McCash Scots Poetry Competition with this poignant tale of a woman ripped from the land she has loved, and has planted with bulbs.
The negativity of change is lightened by the eloquence of her testimony.
Cottar Wife
There wis ae year we laisted the hale twalmonth
twa hale terms, fae Wutsunday an roon again
- afore my man fell oot wi the grieve, as wis his wont.
So it wis back tae the feein-mairket an a new fee,
a different cottar hoose, an ootlin wife i the big hoose
nae kenning fit she’d expect o me. Aathin clyted
oan the cairtie, bairnies, dishes, sticks o furnitur
the sheltie strainin atween the shafts. An my man
dour faced, black browed, reddy wi his han
gin onybody daur an argie-bargie. My hert was wechty
weerin awa fae that place, my face begrutten in saut -
but nae for the cottar hoose, tho it was bonnie eneuch.
My tears were for the grun, the blaik grun, its saft dairk
easin hert-sairs at Martimas, crummlin throw my hans
faan I’d plunted bulbs – blewarts, snaa-fite stars
o Bethlehem, skirie tulips, vauntie in their silken skirts –
its bountie i the simmer time, keepin us in maet;
the wye it seemed tae sigh efter a rain-dookin.
An fit wad I gie, tae plunt a gean or an aipple tree
its croon o fite flooers brobbit wi the pink o dawnin, ilka spring
- wad lichten my ivery step, lift the verra hert oot my breist.
But a tree taks time tae spread its roots, tae ease
intae the grun. Chynge disnae gree wi that.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article