Song for An Able Bastard

I wish I loved an honest girl,

Unseeking and unsought,

Whose lips were soft as they were shy,

And not as they’d been taught

I wish— but what’s the use of that? 

The only She in town

Is not so honest as she’s fair—

She’s light as thistle-down!

And that’s my luck, for I was born

When a March moon was mad;

I wish I loved an honest girl-

I wish my father had.

Eric Linklater (1899-1974)

Reading Scottish poetry in honor of my current location. But not all Scottish flowers have spines.