Scottish Poetry Selection
- A Night's Rain

We've all listened to torrential rain at night. But it takes a poet like Walter Wingate to describe it so clearly - and appreciate its benefits!


A Night's Rain

The thunder clap may clatter?
The lichtnin'flare awa';
I'm listenin' to the water.
And heed them nocht ava.

I canna think o' sleepin':
I canna hear eneuch,
The sang the trees are dreepin',
The music o' the scheugh!

And 'neath the roof that's drummin'
Wi' mair than rhone can kep,
Wi' faster fa' is coming'
That plop upon the step.

My famished flowers are drinkin'
In ilka drookit bed:
An' siller blabs are winkin'
On ilka cabbage bled.

And in my blankets rowin'
I think on hay an' corn?
I maist can hear them growin':
We'll see an odds the morn.

Meaning of unusual words:
lichtnin'=lightning
awa'=away
nocht ava=nothing at all
dreepin'=dripping
scheugh=drainage ditch
ilka drookit=every soaking
siller blabs=silver blobs
rowin'=wrapped up
odds=consequence
the morn=in the morning

Return to the Index of Walter Wingate Poems or the General Index of Scottish Poetry



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