Lallans on Faceboke
Lallans Linkedin1. Tuim-heidit Tam
E wisnae lang it skuil whan Tam wis ca’ed tuim-heided.
Bit tuim-heided e wis nae
tho buik-lair wis ayont im.
E’en wi the maister’s wastle an aw Tam’s ettlins
it widnae gae in.
Bi the hinnermaist lousin Tam hud nae mair buik-lair
thin whin e stertit.
Bit e hud eneuch tae bi gaun oan wi:
strang airms
a hamelie hert
an a dumfooderin wey o mindin things.
Whan Tam’s freens mairchit aff tae waur
e wis left ahin wi weemin an weans
‘Luk efter thaim fir is, Tam,’ they skrauchit,
shouderin thar knapsacks. ‘We’ll bi hame gin Yule.’
Weemin an wee yins war sauf in Tam’s hauns
an e gied a lift tae thaim aweys:
fuishin watter, uphaudin dykes, thinnin neeps,
cairryin wechts an weans an warries.
Whan the warst speirins cam Tam wis thaur
tae mou tae weemin whit e mindit:
whit trees the wid hud cam frae fur thair spurkles,
whaur they’d bin wheetled,
whit hud bin wheepilt,
an tae shew thaim the hidlin brainches
whar cerved herts twined nems thegither.
Weemin tak tent an grat
fur Ypres, Verdun, the Somme,
fur fu kists an tuim airms.
An Tam wis thaur fur weans as weel.
E telt aw the richt wey o’t:
o faithers guddlin fur trooties,
o pauchled epples that mad thaim seeck,
o cushie doos shuit doon bi catties -
a deedly airt -
an harned ower a bleeze in the wids.
The herts tae.
E shewd thaim the herts.
Irene Howat (Copyright)
2. Sneckit
Whan Wullie cam hame fae the war
e cam on is lane
fur Wattie, is brither, wis deid.
No yince, no een yince,
did e quo Wattie’s name.
E haurdly sayed ocht at a
bit sweer at is weans
fur thair yaummers.
Jenny ettled tae mak im talk
bit e widnae.
E couldnae.
Is hert an is tang wur sneckit.
Yin poorin wat day
Tam went tae the linn.
Wullie, hunkerit oan a bowder,
didnae see im
till Tam cruiket is hochs aside im.
Een fixed oan a stane oan the faur side,
Wullie stertit tae spek quately.
‘Wi want ower the tap thegither
intae hell,’ e sayed.
‘Whan it deid doon A spied Wattie
lyin thaur,
starin at me glaikit-lyk.’
‘Squeermen ower,
A raxed oot ma haun fur is.
Thir wis nae haun.
Nae airm.
Jist is heid
lyin lyk thon stane in the glaur.’
A guid while gaed by
wi Wullie sneckit in is waur
an is faimily sneckit in thairs.
Then yin day
Tam went tae the linn
an fun Wullie thaur afore im
lyin sprachled in the waater
deid
wi is airm roon the stane
on the ither side.
Irene Howat (Copyright)
3. Tam’s waur
Efter the waur wis focht and wan
the young laird cam hame.
Fowk wur prood o thair Major
an e’en prooder
whan e mindit wha they wur
an gied thaim the time o day.
Yin efternin e met Tam in the wids.
‘Did you have a good war, Tam?’ speired the Major.
Tam leuked im in the ee.
‘The King had naethin A cud dae for im,’
quo he quately.
Rid-faced at is dowfness the Major
chynged tae ither on-goins.
Whan e met the meenister
the Major telt whit Tam hud sayed,
an hoo seeck sorry e wis tae hae speired.
It teuk the meenister mair nor an oor
tae tell aboot Tam’s waur
an the young laird wis the better o’it.
A wheen o years on Tam gaed hame,
slippin awa quately in is bed.
Awbody wis et the kirkyaird,
frae auld fowk tae hauflins.
Afore the meenister spak
the Major telt hoo Tam hud seen is waur.
Thair wis hardly a yin
whase een wurnae watshod.
When a wis din
the meenister raxed up is airms
ower the yin whase king
hud nocht fur im tae dae
an lippened Tam fur aye
tae is Maister.
Irene Howat (Copyright)
4. Hauflins
Maist efternins Tam raiked the wids
gaitherin kennlin
an dirkins tae gie a bleeze.
Whiles yin o the hauflins wid cum up anent im
an Tam jaloused e needit a crack.
‘Dae ye mind ma faither whan e wis ma age?’
lads speired, yin efter anither.
‘Aye,’ Tam’d say. ‘A mind im.’
An then, lyk a cauf wi its heid in a bowie,
ilka lad wid laip up a Tam cud tell.
Afin they endit bi the burn
takin tent o the waater
whill the drooth in hauflins’ herts
wis slaked.
Cum thair pairtin
Tam wid hud ilka yin’s een
langer thin was canny fur ordinar.
Thir war things sayed atween een
that cudnae bi pit intae wards.
Irene Howat (Copyright)---