Meditation on a Bone

A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.

Words scored upon a bone,

Scratched in despair or rage —

Nine hundred years have gone;

Now, in another age,

They burn with passion on

A scholar’s tranquil page.

The scholar takes his pen

And turns the bone about,

And writes those words again.

Once more they seethe and shout

And through a human brain

Undying hate rings out.

“I loved her when a maid;

I loathe and love the wife

That warms another’s bed:

Let him beware his life!”

The scholar’s hand is stayed;

His pen becomes a knife

To grave in living bone

The fierce archaic cry.

He sits and reads his own

Dull sum of misery.

A thousand years have flown

Before that ink is dry.

And, in a foreign tongue,

A man, who is not he,

Reads and his heart is wrung

This ancient grief to see,

And thinks: When I am dung,

What bone shall speak for me?

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Poems in English 

• Commemoration of Rodney’s Victory by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Coming Through The Rye by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Caledonia: A Ballad by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Burlesque Lament fo Wm. Creech’s Absence by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Bonnie Lesley by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Bonie Jean: A Ballad by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Boat Song—Hey, Ca’ Thro’ by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Birthday Ode for 31st December, 1787 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on the American War by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 4 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 3 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 2 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 1 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Apology to Mr. Syme for not dining with him by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Another on the said Occasion by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ah, woe is me, my Mother dear by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to Wm. Tytler, Esq., of Woodhouselee by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to the Unco Guid by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

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Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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