Mill of Edinvillie: a study of a poem in two tongues

This poem was originally written in English in the 1980s as a memory of my childhood visits to my Auntie Jeannie's farm at Aberlour in Banffshire. It came to me to turn it over into Scots - to owreset or transcreate it. The Scots version was published in The New Makars.
I've let people read the two versions and they tend to like the Scots one more. I feel my memories spread across the two poems, like a left and right hand, an ambidextrous remembering. What do you think?


Mill Of Edinvillie

Hill browed rain:
furrowing downcasts
of peak in trough,
sky in rut.

Smoked out beehives:
honeycombs clutter
the tilt of a barn;
puddles glazy with nectar,
pocked in drowned wasps.

Coal yards fuse
their splutter black
in gutterings of grain,
diamond wooded facets
spun in sooty saps of flame.

Log yards stub
their shaggy bark
in cloven feet of pine,
crying amber lumber
whisky tanged in malty brine.

Straw stuck eggs:
pantry soft butter
on heel ends of toast;
oatcake peppered stovies,
steamed on soup plates.

Lampless twilight:
animal settling
of sheep in shade,
star in glen.















Mill O Edinvillie


Hill broued rain:
furrowin douncausts
o peak in troch,
lift in rut.

Smoked oot bykes:
hinnie-kames clutter
the cowp o a barn;
dubs glaizie wi nectar,
pocked in drouned waps.

Coal yairds fuse
their splitter bleck
in gutterins o grain,
diamond wuided facets
spun in sooty saps o flame.

Log yairds stub
their shaggy bark
in clowen feet o pine,
greetin lamber lumber
whisky tanged in malty brine.

Strae stuck eggs:
pantry saft butter
on heel ens o toast;
oatcake peppered stovies,
steamed on soup plates.

Lampless gloam:
animal settlin
o sheep in shede,
staur in glen.
words and pictures © 2011 John Brewster  music ℗ 2011 John Brewster  graphics public domain, courtesy of wpclipart.com and karenswhimsy.com

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