Night by Aleksander Blok

Nicht, causey, leerie, pothicar,
Aw where a dreich and donnert licht
Leeve for twinty-five year mair –
Naethin will chynge. Nane taks flicht.

Ay, ye can dee – re-stert it aw,
Aw thing turns roon like a peerie:
Nicht, and the canual’s cauld swaw,
Causey, pothicar and leerie.

Scots glossary

nicht – night
causey – street
leerie – lamp
dreich – dreary
donnert - dull
pothicar – apothecary
swaw – wave

This is a translation into a synthetic Scots by Edwin Morgan. A further translation into Englsih prose might be something like:

Night, street, lamp, apothecary
All with a dreary and dull light.
Live for twenty-five years or more –
Nothing will change, nothing take flight.

Yes, you can die, restart it all,
Everything turning round like a spinning top,
Night, and the canal’s cold wave,
Street, apothecary and lamp.

Aleksander Blok : 20th century Russian Poet

Edwin Morgan : Scottish poet – 1920 - present

Found Stuff

Early Morning Fog

Britten

This CD of choral works by Britten is superb. Naxos may be seen as a "cheap" label, but the singing, the playing and the production here are all wonderful.

in Catterline (for Joan Eardley)

The cottage row sits
squat, snubbing the north east
wind; here is all there
is - the caw of gulls,
long days, low cloud
and the wash of it.
In the fields, time waits;
row of stone, row of barley,
lines that stretch a solstice
to infinity. By low water
your breath is still
and the sweep of waves far out
is rumour of something
breaking; the boom
of surf and bones
that write their names in fathoms.
A living that moved you
to edges and flat landscapes,
your eyes fixed on a movement,
cloud to rainbow, city
to sea. The daub of blue,
yellow, black, a gash
of summer light in that darkness.