But for you ...

Found this 1981 publication in a local book-shop recently ...

... I know there were only a couple of thousand published, and very pleased to locate one!

From within, here's some Sorley MacLean verse, which literally sings off the page:


Blue Rampart

But for you the Cuillin would be
an exact and serrated blue rampart
girdling with its march-wall
all that is in my fierce heart.

But for you the sand
that is in Talisker compact and white
would be a measureless plain to my expectations
and on it the spear desire would not turn back.

But for you the oceans
in their unrest and their repose
would raise the wave-crests of my mind
and settle them on a high serenity.

And the brown brindled moorland
and my reason would co-extend ---
but you imposed on them an edict
above my own pain.

And on a distant luxuriant Summit
there blossomed the Tree of Strings
among its leafy branches your face
my reason and the likeness of a star.

---

Sorley MacLean (1911 – 1996)

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