The second part of a poem written 10 years ago in celebration of the showing of 10 priceless Leonardo da Vinci drawings from the Royal Collection at the Stirling Smith – a real coup for Stirling’s art gallery and museum with its unique collections, reflecting Scotland’s history and culture.
The poem imagines Leonardo in 1508, talking to a Scottish courtier.
LEONARDO PONDERS SCOTLAND, II
Crowning all, is that odd aeronautical link.
Theoretical flying machines haunt my
Imagination: man soaring through the sky
Is my Olympian dream, obsession, passion.
And now I learn that a fellow called Damiano
(The name itself suggests Italian connection)
Dared ape the Gods (and bats) last year
And flung himself from Stirling’s battlements,
Trussed with fake wings, into the plain below,
A lonely Icarus who did not die but lived to ridicule.
No Leonardo he, but still we share a vision,
This aviator-man before his time and I.
~
I see the scene in my mind’s eye –
The great escarpment with its royal castle,
King, and gawping courtiers, commonalty;
And the violet northern peaks beyond,
Like mystic backdrop to the canvases
My pious, faith-filled artist-brethren paint.
~
This Scotland – I rather like the sound of it.
The Scots will warm to my art too, I hope.
From A Towering Presence and Other Poems on Stirling Themes (Songbird Publishing, 2010)
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