94/100’ shadows-of-flame’

May the keeper of the fire

See a loaf on the table

And faces of travellers lit with welcome

 and shadows-of-flame, in winter. 

[from ‘The guardians’, George Mackay Brown, ‘Travellers’]

93/100 'with the bounty of salt and water.'

The fisherman holds a course clear of reef and crag.

‘I will come soon to the well-built stone pier

 – wind in the sail – with the bounty of salt and water.’ 

[from ‘The elemental stone’, George Mackay Brown, ‘Travellers’]

92/100 Pealing cockerel

Friday, day spring, a pealing cockerel.

Haul west, fishermen,

With flushed violent mouths. 

[‘Easter’ from ‘Runes from a Holy Island’, George Mackay Brown, 'Selected poems 1952-1992']

91/100 And is silent still

What should I say

To this one, intruder and stranger?

He had stood there two nights

And is silent still.

[from ‘The Golden door: Three kings, George Mackay Brown, 'Selected poems 1952-1992']

90/100 The man from the shipwreck said

‘We have seen stone clusters

Far south in Lewis, Wessex, Brittany.’

That seaman

Withered soon in the circle of the hills

.

[Twenty-sixth stone from Brodgar Poems, George Mackay Brown, 'Selected poems 1952-1992']

89/100 The old actor in Athens

The manager said, ‘If you want to stay on,

Sweep up the empty grape-skins with broom and pan

When the curtain’s down

And the crowd goes off to the wine shops in the town.'

 

[from The old actor in Athens, George Mackay Brown, The wreck of the Archangel]