HELEN B Cruickshank invokes the atmosphere of her native Angus countryside with a mixture of accurate observation and affection.

The piece is in her Collected Poems (Reprographia, 1971).

AFTER RAIN

Reluctant sunlight creeps across the hill,

And under its fair progress, genial, slow,

The new-shorn ewes gleam momently like snow,

And all the corrie, that was grey until

That heavy, sullen cloud had worked its will,

With colour warm and rich is now aglow,

Crimson the sundews and the sphagnum show,

And thyme and heather rocky crannies fill,

O'er sparkling granite rocks, with roar and rush,

Down to the falls the amber torrent rides,

Swollen by rain from all the boggy hollows.

The air is sweet with scent of myrtle bush,

Across the glen a noble rainbow strides,

And where the sunburst goes, bright colour follows.