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.
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