The guid scots tongue

Wait till Nancy sees my latest trick with the "George Gray" monologue!  Here's the original poem:

I have studied many times

The marble which was chiseled for me--

A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.

In truth it pictures not my destination

But my life.

For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;

Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called on me, but I dreaded the chances.
And yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.

And now I know that we must lift the sail

And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture 

Of restlessness and vague desire.

It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

My new idea was to redo the monologue with a Scots dialect! (Listening to Mark Cousins' Ulster accent got to me.)  That version might go like this:

Och, ‘tis many th’ time I hae stoodied

Th’ marble wha’s chiselled foor mae,

A boot wi’ a furled seel a’ rest in a bight.

In troth ‘tis nae a picture o’ my destineetion

But o’ me leef.

Foor loov was oofered mae, an’ I shronk from its disillusionment,

Sorra knocked oon me door, bu’ I was afreed,

Ambition called tae me, bu’ I draeded th’ chaunces,

An’ ye’ a’ th’ teem I hoongered foor maenin’ in me leef.

An’ noo I knoo tha’ we mun lif’ th’ seel

An’ catch th’ winds o’ destiny,

Where’er they dreev the boot.

Tae put maenin’ in yoor leef mee end in ma’ness,

Bu’ leef wi’ou’ maenin’s th’ toorture

O’ res’lessness an’ vague deseer.

‘Tis a boot y'arnin’ foor th’ sae an’ yet afreed.




Lately my interest in The Huffington Post has been on-again, off-again.  Last week I contributed a lot to a forum involving a report that the Massachusetts Supreme Court had okayed including "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, a decision I disapprove of.  What bugs me about this issue is all the "pragmatic" liberal who don't approve of the "under God" addition, but insist the issue isn't worth fighting over.



And just today, there was a forum involving the report that Chelsea/Bradley Manning may be transferred to a civilian prison for reassignment surgery.  Whenever there's a related forum I always post "Pardon for Manning and amnesty for Snowden, NOW!" (Another thing that bugs me is liberals who hope Obama will see the light at the end of his presidency and pardon Manning then.  They're asking for more disappointment.)