This vivid evocation of a northern childhood is by Sheena Blackhall and comes from her new pamphlet, Wind-Blawn: Poems in Scots and English (published by Malfranteaux Concepts, August 2017, £3).
CHILDHOOD IN THE CUP OF A GLEN
Memories blaze up like wildfire in my thoughts
I grew up with the Gaelic of places in my ears
~
On summer nights, I heard the thunder speak
Grumbling between the hills like a beast in a cage
Back and fore, back and fore between the heather Bens
~
The moon was a jiggly Chinese lantern bleared by rain
Always, I heard the river, murmuring
Like granny when she muttered in her sleep
~
And it seemed like the walls were paper thin
Could tear wide open, letting the thunder enter
~
The wind rose and fell in waves
Like painted galloping horses in a carousel
~
As a child I spoke the language of the glen
Its nights, its days, stepping from the ladder of the river
Up to the loft of the Bens. My skin smelt of thyme and peat
My footsteps cupped its pebbles. My tongue was a green fern
~
The glen was a cunning woman, a healer
A Cailleach of hopes and secrets
It held the elixir of life, the alchemy of youth. . .
(to be concluded tomorrow)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article