Selected Poems

Poem of the day with Lesley Duncan 'The Beech-Wood': 'There is a touch of the vaguely sinister ... but the zest of the salmon leap banishes any dark thoughts.'
(Selected Poems, Paperback, 1e)

Poem Of The Day
A delightful nature cameo from the cleric-poet Andrew Young. Elgin-born Young journeyed theologically from Presbyterian minister to Church of England cannon in Sussex. His terse style and sophisticated use of simple language may invite comparisons with Thomas Hardy. As with the latter’s poetry, there is often a dark undertow to his verse, though not in this joyful little piece. Was the squirrel a red one? (Young’s Selected Poems are published by Carcanet at £9.95) - Lesley Duncan

Wood and Hill
Nowhere is one aloneAnd in the closest covert least,But to small eye of bird or beastHe will be known;Today it was for meA squirrel that embraced a treeTurning a small head round;A hare too that ran up the hill,To his short forelegs level ground,And with tall ears stood still.But it was birds I could not seeAnd larks that tried to stand on airThat made of wood and hill a market-square.
Poem of the Day
More Mare hares.This time the observer is Andrew Young, the Scots cleric poet.Typically, some of his sharp perception is turned on himself.His deft rhyming adds to the charm of the piece, which comes from his Selected Poems – Lesley Duncan
March Hares

I made myself as a tree,
No withered leaf twirling on me;
No, not a bird that stirred my boughs,
As looking out from wizard brows
I watched those lithe and lovely forms
That raised the leaves in storms.
I watched them leap and run,
Their bodies hollowed in the sun
To thin transparency,
That I could clearly see
The shallow colour of their blood
Joyous in love’s full flood.
I was content enough,
Watching that serious game of love,
That happy hunting in the wood
Where the pursuer was the more
Pursued,
To stand in breathless hush
With no more life myself than tree or
Bush.