28th September 2015

A Girl Sang a Song

A girl sang a song in the temple’s chorus,
About men, tired in alien lands,
About the ships that left native shores,
And all who forgot their joy to the end.

Thus sang her clean voice, and flew up to the highness,
And sunbeams shined on her shoulder’s white —
And everyone saw and heard from the darkness
The white and airy gown, singing in the light.

And all of them were sure, that joy would burst out:
The ships have arrived at their beach,
The people, in the land of the aliens tired,
Regaining their bearing, are happy and reach.

And sweet was her voice and the sun’s beams around….
And only, by Caesar’s Gates — high on the vault,
The baby, versed into mysteries, mourned,
Because none of them will be ever returned.

Aleksandr Blok 1905

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The Bonniest contents of a Jiffy bag…

 ‘The Bonniest Companie‘, arrived today…

 Kathleen Jamie’s new collection of poems…

 Published by Picador.

‘Venturing into memories of childhood and family, and looking ahead to the future, The Bonniest Companie is a visionary response to a year shaped and charged by both local and global forces; it will stand as a remarkable document of our times’.

The hardback and paperback editions are beautifully produced. To see the making of the cover artwork, scroll down a couple of posts…it wasn’t that long ago, and now it is in print! Official publication date is the end of October. To pre-order a copy, go to a good bookshop near you, or to one of these:

http://www.thebookmark.co.uk a gem of a bookshop in Grantown on Spey, inadvertantly keeping the fish safe. The town used to be known for it’s fishing, now it is known for it’s bookshop!

http://www.maddingcrowdlinlithgow.co.uk a jewel in the crown of the town where Mary Queen of Scots was born, we didn’t get to visit the castle when we were there, only the bookshop, and whatever you are looking for, it is well worth a visit.

I am very pleased to say we will be hosting a special launch of The Bonniest Companie with a reading by Kathleen Jamie, and an exhibition of the original artwork, at the gallery here in Belford later in November. Watch this space….