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Scotland
The Brains Robert
Burns, Sir Walter Scott an ‘ Robert Tannahill
Gave the warl’ aa they’d got, they’re weel remembered still
Robert Louis Stevenson told tales o’ Jacobites
An’ sailed aroon’ the treasured isles
Whaur shone his faither’s lichts;
Henry Bell steamed richt well intae history
Wi’ Symington an’ Fulton an’ Watt anither three
Napier gart ships gae faster warkin’ for Cunard
An’ Telford built his brigs an’ roads
Whaur ye still drive yer car:
CHORUS:
Seems we’re only guid for grouse-shoots,
The tartan an’ the gowf,
The jokes aboot oor meanness
An’ the whisky that gaes South
Mackenzie fae Stornoway explored the Arctic wastes
Bruce o’ Kinnaird explored the Nile, it wasna’ done in haste
An’ Mungo Park reached Niger but died ere Timbuctu,
Great Livingstone the warl’ weel kens had muckle left tae do:
Macquarie went tae New South Wales tae set it on it’s feet,
Sir Thomas Brisbane left his Largs the Southern Star tae greet
An mony’s a kilted sodger fought in the British square,
The Thin Red Line that wad not break
Gude kens that it’s still there:
-Chorus-
Neilson an’ Mushet’s furnaces brought industry tae a’
Tae build the ships an’ engines that made the warl’ sma’
‘Twas on the Clyde the 5-3-4, the greatest ship afloat
Was built an’ cried Queen Mary wi’ mony anither boat:
I havena’ time for politics but some mention I maun gie
Tae great Kier Hardie an’ John Maclean wha’ foucht tae mak us free
An’ but for Alexander Bell, Dunlop an’ Mackintosh
Ye couldna’ phone for a taxi when yer coat was in the wash:
-Chorus-
An’ think sometimes o’ Logie Baird whan watchin’ yer T.V.
An’ how it is whan fog is thick the pilots still can see
An’ muse awhile how it wad be if Scotland wasna there
Ye maun agree that it wad be
A puirer warl’ tae share:
There’ mair taeScots than whisky, haggis an’ the heather
There’s a spirit o’ invention, industry an’ endeavour,
Whan neist ye hear them slander us whiles throwin’ back their tots
man,
Just think o’ this an’ then declare,
"I’m proud tae be a Scotsman".
Not tae mention Fleming, Simpson, Lister an’ the lave
Wha’ve made the warl’ a better place,
Aye Scotland’ mair nor brave.
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Hugh
MacDiarmid: An Elegy
The
rumballiach Bard o' Langholm
is happit in his moul,
a muckle heid he had
an harns forbye
tae match,
a contrary carle
wha set the Muckle Toun
ableeze
wi ballants gleaned
fae youthfu ploys
o' houghmagandie,
he'd aye gang
his ain gait
an his hairt
aye ruled his heid
but aiblins
they'll think better o' him
nou he's deid;
the feck o' fowk
hadna muckle time
for aa his heigh flown warks
an auld Scots is tae fikey
an he didna scrieve
lik Burns:
he was aye a rebel,
an orra chiel
wi twa sauls
wha nevir tuik
the middle gait
but aye
the teuchest:
nou he's movit hoose
he'll no be blate
tae thole thae angels
but he'll maist lik
cry them hypocrites
an organise them
intil unions
wi Gabriel
an Peter
fur his stewarts,
e'en Gude
he wull na fear
but he'll maist lik
mak complaint
fur Scotia's lot
an gar Him
rive us
fae the Suthrons
wi' an eirdquaik.
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About
The Writer: Scottish
singer/songwriter Ian Blacklaw Richardson began writing songs when he
was 14. In 1975, he was signed to the Corries' Pan-Audio Dara label in
Edinburgh, and Richardson wrote "Scotland Will Flourish",
recorded by the Corries. Richardson has performed at countless music
festivals with some of the most famous musicians of the time, including
Josh MacCrae, Hamish Imlach, Dick Gaughan, Archie Fisher, Aly Bain and
Mike Whellans. In 1980, Richardson moved to the Isle of Man in search of
a quieter way of life, where he still lives today. Send
email to the writer.
All poems above
Copyright Ian Blacklaw Richardson. All Rights Reserved.
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