In this second piece from The Hunterian Museum Poems, Aonghas MacNeacail imaginatively enters the world of the mysterious Picts, who left no written records but are deeply embedded in the history and mythology of Scotland.
The poet prefers to write without punctuation marks or capital letters!
I AM A PICT
i am a pict
though it’s long since the origin
that gave life to
my ode and my journey
~
and though it was through stone
you were required to meet me,
my being won’t be blacked out
~
though my tongue’s vigour was stifled,
my grammar set under a lasting mask,
till a song could not be heard from me
nor was there debate on lips –
don’t think i am excluded from
the deep artery of your history
~
for though i was left dumb,
you may count me among your ancestors,
the gene is still travelling
in the darkness of your veins
~
but there was artistry in the fingers
that gave fine carving to my form
with the desire that i be no shadow
~
it is said that i am fortuna
~
and in giving shape to
my memory, sculptor,
you built a radiant fortress for my
story, you gave me the reward
~
my mystery feeding your wish
that i should be a queen
to the eye
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article