Palimpsest

I Hear Them

In voices thick with heath and heather,

They beckon those whose roots first grew

In a land that didn’t want them.

A land of mostly barren stone

Amidst a turbulent sea of strife,

Generations still called it home.

In fierce determination to make it so.

They clung to scarps and rushing burns

And made adversity a virtue,

Defying both the land and greedy Sassenachs

That would deny them both.

But they endured, breeding into the bones of all

No matter the shore that they were cast,

An ear attuned to the brogue and cadence

Of their hereditary speech and tongue.

They carry their heritage as a badge of honour

And heed its faint song on every occasion

That allows them to pay homage

To the lands and clans that bore them.

So take heed when facing one of this ilk

Believing that their past is of no consequence,

You can take a Scot out of Scotland.

But you can never take Scotland out of a Scot.

Click here to return to Home Page