John Muir in Dunbar, 1893

13/10/09

John Muir in Dunbar, 1893 by James Robertson

James Robertson, a member of Scottish PEN, is a poet, short story writer and novelist. He writes in English and Scots, and is a co-founder and the general editor of the Scots language imprint for children, Itchy Coo. His novels are The Fanatic, Joseph Knight and The Testament of Gideon Mack. He stays in Angus. 'John Muir in Dunbar, 1893' was originally published in Present Poets 2 (National Museums of Scotland, 1999).

John Muir in Dunbar, 1893

I am a Scotchman and at home again

Once, I mind it well, I climbed a Douglas fir
High in the Sierra, a storm was rising
And I squirrelled up that forest mainmast
So when it struck I'd feel what like it was
To be a storm-tossed tree. The wind blew
From the sea, a hundred and fifty miles away
But I swear I scented salt and I thought of here.
We are travellers together, trees and men;
They make their many journeys, and our own,
Away and back again, are only little more than
Tree-wavings. "The evening brings aw hame",
It's said. I ken the truth of that. I feel it now.
 

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