Battle Of Brunanburgh

Athelstan King,
Lord among Earls,
Bracelet-bestower and
Baron of Barons,
He with his brother,
Edmund Atheling,
Gaining a lifelong
Glory in battle,
Slew with the sword-edge
There by Brunanburh,
Brake the shield-wall,
Hew'd the lindenwood,
Hack'd the battleshield,
Sons of Edward with hammer'd brands.

Theirs was a greatness
Got from their Grandsires--
Theirs that so often in
Strife with their enemies
Struck for their hoards and their hearths and their homes.

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poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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In the Scottish Orkneys, the little stone houses with their single large room and central hearth had an extraordinary range of built-in furniture.

quote by Stephen Gardiner
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Without the shepherd's dog, the whole of the open mountainous land in Scotland would not be worth a sixpence.

quote by James Hogg
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Thistle

Thistle standing tall and proud
With its purple down all around
Leafs with prickles they will sting
But the look of elegance a majestic thing

An emblem of Scotland its colours you show
Your crown of white seeds like our mountains topped with snow
Your colour purple like the heather below
The green in your leafs is like the trees and the grass

Your picture brings memories of my Scottish past
Your roots buried deep in the land that I love
The people are friendly and can’t do enough

01 12 2010
Chellaston

poem by Jim O'Donnell
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I'm William Wallace, and the rest of you will be spared. Go back to England and tell them... Scotland is free!

quote by William Wallace
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When you hear someone from the very north of Scotland speaking, I think its nice, very musical and harmonious.

quote by Sean Connery
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The More Modern Ballad of Chevy Chace

God prosper long our noble king,
Our liffes and safetyes all;
A woefull hunting once there did
In Chevy-Chace befall.

To drive the deere with hound and horne,
Erle Percy took his way;
The child may rue that is unborne
The hunting of that day.

The sout Erle of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods
Three summers days to take;

The cheefest harts in Chevy-Chase
To kill and beare away:
These tydings to Erle Douglas came,
In Scotland where he lay.

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poem by Anonymous Olde English
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I fell in love with Scotland and made good friends here, so I stayed after graduating with Honours in Chemistry.

quote by Steve Blake
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Song of the Edinburgh Academician

If ony here has got an ear,
He'd better tak’ a haud o’ me,
Or I'll begin, wi’ roarin’ din,
To cheer our old Academy.

Dear old Academy,
Queer old Academy,
A merry lot we were, I wot,
When at the old Academy.

There's some may think me crouse wi’ drink,
And some may think it mad o’ me,
But ither some will gladly come
And cheer our old Academy.

Some set their hopes on Kings and Popes,
But, o’ the sons of Adam, he
Was first, without the smallest doubt,
That built the first Academy.

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poem by James Clerk Maxwell
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I was brought up in Scotland and have always been a country person, although the town means a great deal to me, too.

quote by Susannah York
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Auld Maitland

There lived a king in southern land,
King Edward hight his name;
Unwordily he wore the crown,
Till fifty years were gane.

He had a sister's son o's ain,
Was large of blood and bane;
And afterward, when he came up,
Young Edward hight his name.

One day he came before the king,
And kneel'd low on his knee:
'A boon, a boon, my good uncle,
I crave to ask of thee!

'At our lang wars, in fair Scotland,
I fain ha'e wish'd to be,
If fifteen hundred waled wight men
You'll grant to ride with me.'

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poem by Andrew Lang
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The monster

Political ideas and religious dogmas
Are the two arms of the monster
That strangulate the mankind throughout
Yet the monster goes scot-free
For their sins, with rewards not userped.
01.07.2007

poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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BA Business Class (Life Poem)

Neighbours resent the forced eye-contact intimacy,
Seat barrier raised despite friendly pre-flight hello,
Too English to be happy, too weird to be interesting,
Smiling Simon says, “Nice to have you, with us, Sir”.

Irish Grubeen, Mature Scottish Cheddar after dinner,
The port on London to Miami is strangely Stiltonless,
Scottish Tracy saves the day with First Class foray,
Admits she is a Lockerbie lass with nerves of steel.

Captain Lightfoot lands this little piece of England,
More gently than his movie namesakes ever could.
I count 55 Miami immigration stamps in my passport,
Maybe yoga would make this commute more fun.

poem by Ian Beckett
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Third culture kid

I'm a third culture kid-
a hidden immigrant;

I seem to fit in;
I've got blonde hair,
white skin and an English accent;

to look at me
you'd never realise where i've been;

that part of me is South East Asian,
American, Scottish, African, Australian;

I grew up in Hong Kong
but went to school in the United Kingdom;
first in Scotland, then in Kent;

my parents are both South African,
my boyfriend's from Spain
and my father works and lives in Bahrain-

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poem by Danielle Moffat
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I left Scotland when I was 16 because I had no qualifications for anything but to join the Navy, having left school at 13.

quote by Sean Connery
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The Scottish Referee’s Bible of 1690

Football in Scotland,
is a religion on its own
When it involves
both Celtic and Rangers,
But how many times
are the Celtic to be crucified
By a referee
who is a Rangers supporter?

Does the Scottish Football Association
travel the country?
And recruit men from
the local Masonic Lodges,
For the referee’s bible of 1690,
is to prevent
Celtic from winning
any Old Firm matches.

Last Saturday’s match
was another fine example

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poem by Daniel McDonagh
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William Wallace

(For the Ballarat statue of him)

THIS is Scotch William Wallace. It was He
Who in dark hours first raised his face to see:
Who watched the English tyrant Nobles spurn,
Steel-clad, with iron hoofs the Scottish Free:
Who armed and drilled the simple footman Kern,
Yea, bade in blood and rout the proud Knight learn
His Feudalism was dead, and Scotland stand
Dauntless to wait the day of Bannockburn!
O Wallace, peerless lover of thy land,
We need thee still, thy moulding brain and hand!
For us, thy poor, again proud tyrants spurn,
The robber Rich, a yet more hateful band!

poem by Francis William Lauderdale Adams
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My Ancestors (Quatrain)

In bonny Scotland by the bay
Where Celtic Fairies love to play
My sweet family waits for me
hovering around the big Oak Tree.

poem by Heather Burns
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Lines Written On A Bank Note

Wae worth thy power, thou cursed leaf!
Fell source o' a' my woe and grief!
For lack o' thee I've lost my lass!
For lack o' thee I scrimp my glass!
I see the children of affliction
Unaided, through thy curst restriction:
I've seen the oppressor's cruel smile
Amid his hapless victim's spoil;
And for thy potence vainly wished,
To crush the villain in the dust:
For lack o' thee, I leave this much-lov'd shore,
Never, perhaps, to greet old Scotland more.

poem by Robert Burns (1786)
Added by Dan Costinaş
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Edinburgh After Flodden

I.

News of battle!-news of battle!
Hark! 'tis ringing down the street:
And the archways and the pavement
Bear the clang of hurrying feet.
News of battle? Who hath brought it?
News of triumph? Who should bring
Tidings from our noble army,
Greetings from our gallant King?
All last night we watched the beacons
Blazing on the hills afar,
Each one bearing, as it kindled,
Message of the opened war.
All night long the northern streamers
Shot across the trembling sky:
Fearful lights, that never beckon
Save when kings or heroes die.

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poem by William Edmondstoune Aytoun
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