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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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Crowdie ever mair (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Inscription to Chloris by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Yonder pomp of costly fashion (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• My Spouse Nancy by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Forlorn, my love, no comfort here (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Behold the hour by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Impromptu on Mrs. Riddell’s Birthday by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• On Chloris being ill (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• How cruel are the parents by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Had I a cave by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Craigieburn Wood by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Poem on Pastoral Poetry by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Lines of John M’Murdo by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Inscription for an Alter of Independence by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epitaph on a Lap-dog by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epigram on Miss Davies by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Out over the Forth (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• O aye my wife she dang me (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Hey, the Dusty Miller (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

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Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

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

 

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