by Mark Sanford

Tis th’ ploughman bard’s belief that oor lang sicht2 is sae poor,
yet in mah bonnie kip, whit’s gaen3 gaes free,
tae howk4 ‘n’ nose mid a rough manuka-clothéd shore.
O’ whit jigging, duggl’d sights ah kin see;
puppies writhing in th’ mingin5 grasses,
snake-bites ‘n’ licks ‘n’ wittering passes,
brune biscuits, banes, birds, ‘n’ a beastly stinging bee.
Twitching ‘n’ jerking, ah sae playful wi’ th’ wee bairns,
a’ o’ us against socks ‘n’ tinsel tape; it’s nae fur thae dreams this duggie keens.
Bit ah ask, is it juist intae mah dreams sic hings ur given tae me?

Ah ken ‘tis sae mah auld mukker6, furry laddie.
Mah ain dreams ur, just lik’ ye, stowed oot o’7 kenspeckle8 fowk ‘n’ places,
forbidding bens9, running waters, a’ bubbling haups fur me.
In th’ earlie morning mists, ah catch faint traces,
o’ clams steaming in the’pot ‘n’ a’ treasures o’ oceans deep,
flaming kelps, seaweed fae th’ reefs sae steep.
In thae mah braw dreams, a’m tae th’ races.
Bit haud in, ‘ere in th’ ebb tide ah cop a troubling sight,
whilk strikes me caud in th’ barren nicht.
Ah wake, ah keek10, but ne’er tae fin’ even a slice o’ lost loues ‘n’ faces.

Tak’ it fae me, thare is na way tae return tae th’ stairt,
It’s true even o’ whit’s gaen, tae us is left juist th’ wee’er pairt.

1Dug – dog 

2Sicht – view 
3Gaen – gone 
4Howk – dig 
5Minging – stinking
6Mukker – friend, mate 

7Stowed oot o’ – full of

8Kenspeckle – familiar

9Bens – mountains 

10Keek – look