At whiles o’ clock, the tides o’ fate

They bide or rush, but ne’er they wait

Time’s nae a keeper, fair or true

It sets the path but hides the view

 

Success, a riddle timed sae tight

Its hour nae fixed by neither day nor night

A glisk o’ gold, a fleeting prize

Yet aye secured by steady tries

 

The dawn may greet the braw and slee

But dusk rewards the faithfu’ lee

For though the hours maun onward flee

They circle back for constancy

 

Tak tent! The watch it ticks sae sly

Aye swinging by, yet nae tae lie

While some may chase the fleeting han’

The canny pause and dreams they plan

 

Success is but a whisperin’ chime

That lingers lang through wids o’ time

Nae failure’s fatal, nae toil’s in vain

Its heart and strength that count again

 

Sae meet the clock at ebb or flow

For tides o’ time, they’ll aye bestow

At morn, at gloam, or nicht’s deep hame

Success may light a heart aflame

Judge’s comments: A clever poem abounding with Scottish words and phrases that similarly pondered the question of time and also the nature of success. Arranged in six stanzas of four lines, the poet is a master of rhyme as in the third stanza, in which the end words are: slee, lee, flee, constancy.