According to the evidence of the story there was nothing that could account for what came after other than the presence of the devil.

the smell of a language, a country song, / an oath on a stone, a cry

To Bod Iwan a fair wind came / through the winter leaves aflame,

Smooth, dark slabs; floor to roof boxed / with stone shelfs like doorless cupboards.

From the airplane, streaks of light pick out / a little town, plumped down there by chance:

Birth's struggle done, the midwife sets off home / down Neegirt's fields, with lit peat held for light.

And all the pointless fights that come / from thinking we can only see one way,

The Emperor Constantine / battling with a traitor / three hundred years later

When he touches the strings / that tied them together the first time

the blackberries are nowhere as sweet / as the snow we had last year.

You are fresh words / on the old stone of time.

I’d like to make picturesinstead of poems.That wayeach one would have its taleof sales and robberiesof rooms where it had hungof women and dear friendswho got it as a gift.They would have to be…

she'll turn your dreams to Scotch mist, / bone comb your hair with tugging wind / scrub your faces with rain.

there is no stone where the hawk soars, / no hawk where the stones stand

In a certain region of China,in the southwest, not far from the mountains of Yunnan,a kind of apple is to be foundwith such an exquisite flavorthat in ancient times the emperors would spendtheir gold…

The loch knows its deeper stretches / where danger lurks;

Before long your poem songs got you known, / to Edinburgh city next you were gone.

In this poem, two of the region’s hills speak to each other. When a vehicle was needed for telling the story of Foot and Mouth, the hills seemed appropriate; they are very ancient, stand above the…

Two Romany boys were sent, / sent across the great sea.

He plunges it in completely. Moments pass. The bull remains standing, motionless.

I can't bear this any longer! she cried in distress, seizing me by the arm.

What is Scots? Is it Gaelic? A dialect of English? English with a Gaelic brogue? A hodgepodge of English and Gaelic?

Now she walked a step behind him, looking at everything suspiciously with her new, cold eyes, but without venturing a word.

I lift’t the harnesh fae ahint the oul doar, whur it haes hug     fae iver I mine,The cullar an’ hames maybe ouler than me, an’ a bit o’ a     ravell’t…

Cast your nets overseas / and land on your / shadow.

The pond of your breastsMy pillow shall be;Your eyes my moonsLike silver shine.Wait, my girl!Don’t go away:What if I will not see you,Ever again?

That fire ball, with wide open eyes / is hanging above our heads, burning hot

Sitting alone       within a hidden bamboogrove    plucking the qin   repeating longhowls        in a deep forest no one knowsbright moon …

A strong desire to climb high          No onecomes to offer wine            So forlorn fordistant             …

At last at West Lake         it’s the sixth moon-monthWind  light      sights    unlike     any four seasonsSky-linked lotus…