Document 645
Dipper: 33 - The Feather
Author(s): John Reid
Copyright holder(s): John Reid
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Birlin craws across the sky
Scatterin wrack alang the shore
An fellin fir-trees by the score.
The storm was ower, the morn was still,
I tuik the auld road tae the hill
Whaur wind-kaimed gress gied wey tae heather,
An there I fand a queer-like feather.
I ken maist birds, but this wee heckle
Had come frae something mair kenspeckle
Than ocht I kenned - some fremit bird
Blawn tempest-tossed frae some faur airt.
Wi heuk an threid an fingers slee
I turned that feather tae a flee -
A flee I fished through ae troot season,
A flee that near tint me my reason.
For ilka troot I cast it ower
Tuik it wi ne'er a second glower,
Big or wee, it didna maitter,
I could hae herriet every watter.
I slauchtered troot till I was stawed,
I felt like smashin reel an rod,
Until ae day I burnt that flee
Frae its fell curse tae set me free.
An nou I fish as aince I did,
Dependent on the fish's tid,
Kennin my flees micht tak a troot,
But wi the issue aye in doot!
___
wind-kaimed/wind-combed
heckle/neck-feather
kenspeckle/conspicuous
slee/skilled
stawed/sickened
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APA Style:
Dipper: 33 - The Feather. 2025. In The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved 30 April 2025, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=645.
MLA Style:
"Dipper: 33 - The Feather." The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2025. Web. 30 April 2025. http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=645.
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The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech, s.v., "Dipper: 33 - The Feather," accessed 30 April 2025, http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=645.
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The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. 2025. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk.
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Dipper: 33 - The Feather
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