Poetry In Scots Quotes

“Consider it warly, reid oftar than anys;
Weill at a blenk sle poetry nocht tane is.”
― Gawin Douglas, The Aeneid, Volume 1: Introduction, Books I - VIII

“Of the Changis of Lyfe

So nixt to simmer, winter bein,
Nixt eftir comfort, cairis kein,
Nixt derk midnicht the mirthful morrow;
Nixt eftir joy ay cumis sorow,
So is this warld, and ay hes bein.”
― William Dunbar

“Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin
Ourhailit with my feble fantasie,
Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind.
Twa gods gyds me: the ane of tham is blind,
Ye, and a bairn brocht up in vanitie;
The nixt a wyf ingenrit of the se,
And lichter nor a dauphin with hir fin.

Unhappie is the man for evirmair
That teils the sand and sawis in the aire;
Bot twyse unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis in his hairt a mad desyre,
And follows on a woman throw the fyre,
Led be a blind and teichit be a bairn.”
― Mark Alexander Boyd

“Reid, reid agane, this volume, mair than twys:
Considir quhat hyd sentence tharin lys.”
― Gawin Douglas, The Aeneid, Volume 1: Introduction, Books I - VIII

“WINTER

Puir laboureris and busy husbandmen,
Went wet and weary in the fen;
The silly sheep and their little herd-groomis
Lurkis under lea of bankis, wodes, and broomis,
And other dantit greater bestial,
Within their stabillis sesyt into stall,
Sic as mulis, horsis, oxen and kye,
Fed tuskit boaris, and fat swine in sty,
Sustainit were by manis governance
On harvest and simmeris purveyance.”
― Gawin Douglas, The Poetical Works of Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, with Memoir, Notes, and Glossary, Volume 1