burnside

First hard frost. The old gods gone to ground
in drystane walls and silted
ditchworks, sleet
in squalls along the ridge,
then nothing: silence;
grey on grey on grey…

—John Burnside, “October 2023”
published in THE EMPIRE OF FORGETTING (Cape, 2025)

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/456121/the-empire-of-forgetting-by-burnside-john/9781787334557

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #autumn #October #Burnside #JohnBurnside

October 2023
by John Burnside

First hard frost. The old gods gone to ground
in drystane walls and silted
ditchworks, sleet
in squalls along the ridge,
then nothing: silence;
grey on grey on grey.
I walk out to the far edge of the yard
and stare into the distance, almost
sure that I am seen
by all I know is there
and cannot see:
echoed, in a line of stunted gorse
along the hedge-line; noticed, then dismissed
as not quite animal enough
to hunt, or fear.
No gods to speak of
here, but there are
phantoms from an early travelogue
who visit now and then; laying no claim
to worship, they are
kindred to the birds
in field guides: tender, indisputable,
and apparitions all, though they are blessed
as I am, when the first sun filters through
the windbreak, and, in spite of all I know,
the light comes clear
and everything is true.

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Somewhere along this street, unknown to me,
behind a maze of apple trees and stars,
he rises in the small hours, finds a book
and settles at a window or a desk
to see the morning in, alone for once,
unnamed, unburdened, happy in himself…

—John Burnside, “The Good Neighbour”
published in DRIFTWORK (Cape, 2026)

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/481482/driftwork-by-burnside-john/9781787336667

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Burnside #JohnBurnside