Knowledge of Language

The River’s Sang

Some English teachers have set pupils the challenge of writing in Scots about the river that runs by the school.

Students made a list of questions for the river and answered these from the river’s point of view. Writing in the first person, students expressed how the river feels as it travels from its source through farmlands and towns to the sea.

Pupils had to research geography and history and consider the environment and enterprise for this piece of creative writing in the Scots language.

The River Clyde's Sang

Ah’m cawed Clyde,
Ah’m cawed Clyde,
Ah’m narra an ah’m wide,
Ah wis born in the braes o Lanark side.

Ah’ve got three weans
cawed Kelvin, Cart an Calder.
Ah’m prood o ma weans,
cannae wait till they get aulder.

Rinnin intae Glesga where the grummel lies     (sediment)

Scran oan ma banks an flowin through ma thighs.
The wee weans chuckin in the muck, aw blithe an cantie
Ah wid swally aw ae thum if ah hud the chance tae.

Selkies, basking shairks,
Siller an broon troot
Babbin in an oot,
Mingin fishermen catchin thum nae dout.

By Matthew Byers and Beth Frame, S2, Uddingston Grammar School, South Lanarkshire

The Sang o the Spey

I look at ma reflection
An fit dee I see
A ragged, lifeless, unloved mannie
Staring back at me.
Am I gweed for anything
Cause it disna seem ‘at way
People niver think o ma
Nae aince in a single day.

A fire builds inside ma
Reid hot tae the touch
Yit the calmin water
It washed me caal agin
Anger niver cams tae much.

I think o a the gweed things
The things that mak ma me.

“Whiskey is ma spirit
Salmon ma pride and joy
Loupin in an oot o ma
Bein a sa coy”

Sae suddenly I realise
That am nae a joke
Humans wi’oot ma
Simply coodna cope.
As ma water kissed the dry land
And ma waves caressed the shore
A filled ma heid
And bide foriver more….

“As aal and scarred as I may be
you will niver see the end o me
ma travels continue for
The hunner odd miles and more
Nae matter fit time, nae matter fit need
Life will ayeways depend on me
For I am the great River Spey
And I am truly here tae stay.

By Ellie Mair, S2, Buckie High School, Moray

I am cawed Tweed

They caw me Tweed, a siller snake,
Shapin aw the land.
A potter and a painter,
Carvin mud and sand.

As auld as ma bank, as auld as ma bed,
As young as a newborn bairn.
Flowin, speedin, reachin,
Look, listen, lairn.

I was born up North at bonny Tweed Wells,
In the misty mounts, the foggy fells.
But every day I'm born again,
Rushin free through forest or glen.

I come fae the North and I speed tae the Sooth,
Tae the bonny bobbin Sea.
Frae hill tae valley, frae toon tae tarn,
Past stane and slope and tree.

Under auld brigs and arches o stane,
Walkers a-watchin aw alane.
Pourin forth, roch and fast,
Seein the sichts o present and past.

The slopin Eildons, thae sisters thrie,
Huddled up thegether.
The rounded Cheviots, watchin me,
Standin strang forever.

I hide the wee fishies in ma pockets,
Safe frae the hook.
But here comes Otter, the fishie man,
Recovrin what I took.

I tak the wood and the roch grey stanes,
And sand them doon till they're smooth and honed.
I gently clap them, brushin by,
Till it's on velvet that I lie.

I'm speedy noo, ragin on,
Flyin withoot fear.
I can smell it, I can sense it,
I ken that she is near.

I'm a fiery soul, burnin bricht,
Hidden by the water,
As I streak tae the sea, the michty sea,
A mither's joyful daughter.

At last! Reunited,
We embrace, entwine,
Thegether and apairt
For aw o time.

By Beth Hadshar, S3, Kelso High School, Scottish Borders