Thochts anent Pollution
James Graham

Taken from the 1973 Bonnet Guild Festival Guide

Lang syne, they say, the second sicht

0' auld Scots folk was shaw

Them antrin ferlies morn an' nicht.

Deil's wark was brisk an' a'.

An' yet, aneth the wateigaw

The rarest o* a' sichts was aye the breist

0' the caller earth wi' her plain, braw

Simmer goun, or a sark o' snaw

For sleepin in, afore the neist

Wild licht o' the spring sky.

Folk speired what wey

The guid God blessed his gomerel bairns

Wi' siclike lowin' beauty.

They biggit up their silly cairns

For their ain deid, nane gie' a thocht

Hou the warld hersel', puir lass, micht come

to nocht.

But there's Deil's wark noo:
There's stour, an' the reek o' oil, an wee fish

Deid in the bums an' lochs - a witch's brew

0! industrial muck. O! could wish

The auld warld born again.
Och, yon wad be a ferlie worth the hae'n.


Antrin - strange; ferlie - vision;

watergaw - rainbow; caller - fresh;

gomerel - idiotic; lowin' - flaming; silly - simple.