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.
