Today they laid him in the earth's cold colour,
a man from Lewis with his seventy-five
years struck from his head. Teacher, scholar,
he had worked a true task when all alive…
—Iain Crichton Smith, “For Angus MacLeod”
Published in New Collected Poems (Carcanet, 2011)
Iain Crichton Smith, himself a teacher, commemorates the life of a former Headmaster of Oban High School
Today, 18 June, is Thank a Teacher Day
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #teaching #teachers #ThankATeacherDay