My jewel of dawn and night

I know I'm very guilty of returning frequently to this Sorley MacLean 2011 'Collected Poems' volume - but that's simply because it's truly wonderful … every single page is a total poetic delight :-)

Here is my favourite excerpt from the lengthy 'Poems to Eimhir' sequence:


‘Poems to Eimhir’ LIV


Camhanaich / Dawn

You were dawn on the Cuillin
and benign day on the Clarach,
the sun on his elbow in the golden stream
and the white rose that breaks the horizon.

Glitter of sails on a sunlit firth,
blue of the sea and the aureate sky,
the young morning in your head of hair
and in your clear lovely cheeks.

My jewel of dawn and night
your face and your dear kindness,
though the grey stake of misfortune is
thrust through the breast of my young morning.

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Sorley MacLean (1911 – 1996)

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