Rudan a nì uisge

Running rest-day ...

... National Poetry Day less than a week away now - and the Scottish Poetry Library has produced a fantastic set of poem-cards around this year's theme: water.

I'll blip a few in the run-up to Thursday, culminating in my favourite :-)

For today, here's a Jackie Kay translation:


Think of a flood

Think of a flood, think of a well
Working, working, think of a mill.

Think of your blood, moving, moving
Through every artery of night and morning

Think how the grass, trees and plants know
They need the cloud-bursts of rain to grow

Think of yourself out in the mud and the mire
Think what cleans your hands, feet, hair.

Think of mammy making your dinner
Without water boiling in the pan for her

Think of water that comes from air,
How it came from there and goes, where?

Think of medicine when we are ill
How much water we need to get well

Think of a hot bath or a shower
The splish- splash pleasure, the hot vapours.

So many other things we may need water for.
Make your own list for your son or your daughter.


translated by Jackie Kay