Jim Carruth, Glasgow's new poet laureate, comes from a farming background in Renfrewshire.

Here is a touching poem addressed to his late father.

CONVERSING WITH ANGELS

Recently you've glimpsed them more often

as you drive quiet roads to your son's farm

through the black mornings before dawn.

Your headlamps launch these night guardians

from flashes of eyes and ruffled feathers

into silent prophets of white-winged flight.

Last night you stood on the cottage doorstep

at the boundary where village becomes field

offered up a wordless invocation to the stars.

A messenger high up in the old bell tower

delivered an answer: unearthly and hoarse

as many have done throughout your life.

You replied and another one joined in

echoing from a small congregation of oak

and a third spoke up from beyond the river.

Today you recount to me those conversations:

a voice reaffirming its connection to the unseen;

and a faith that calls out confident of response.