A STRANGE but compelling reflection on the irrational power of passion, even when trained on an unresponsive and - in the eyes of a friend - unworthy recipient.

The author is George Campbell Hay (1915-1984) who wrote in Gaelic, English, and Scots, as well as French and Norwegian. His Collected Poems and Songs were published in 2000 for the Lorimer Trust by Edinburgh University Press.

STILL GYTE, MAN?

'Still gyte, man?' Stude I in yere claes

I'd thole nae beggar's nichts an' days,

chap-chappan, whidderan lik a moose,

at ae same cauld an' steekit hoose.

'What stane has she tae draw yere een?

What gars ye, syne she aye has been

as toom an' hertless as a hoor,

gang sornan kindness at her dure?'

'Though ye should talk a hunner year,

the windblown wave will seek the shore,

the muirlan watter seek the sea.

Then wheesht man. Sae it is wi me.'

gyte=crazy with longing or desire; whidderan=rushing about; steekit=shut up; toom=empty; sornan=scrounging