Summer in Aberdeen

“ Saft a wee, ” says Erchie.
“ Saft a wee! ” says I;
“ I’m draiglet an’ I’m drookit,
An’ ma sark’s no dry.
It’s rainin’ like a skailin’ bine,
It’s stottin’ frae the street,
The sheuch is rinnin’ ower in spate,
It’s weet, gey weet.
I hae some imagination
But I’m fairly bate to say
What fearsome flude you folk would ca’
A richt wat day.”

W.D. Cocker

selected by the Scottish Poetry Library
reproduced with the permission of Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd