Forgotten Ground Regained

Hail in St. Mary's

The goose-gate’s gairies loudly skailt their scree, scarrach-snell an cranreuch bricht. Brattlin stanes fae quarrled sky skelpt the hooses. The selkies’ siller ootfiel, chingle baffed, chittered cauld an dark an tuim, tremmlin lanesome ablow the bitter carry.
Photograph by Colin Mackenzie
Part of Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, Issue 8, Fall, 2025: Norse and Icelandic Forms
Note from the Editor:
This poem mimics Old Nose kviðuháttr meter, a variant of fornyrðislag in which odd-numbered lines have three syllables, and even-numbered lines have four. This can be a very challenging form in modern English, especially if the poet maintains the Old Norse requirement of double alliteration on the odd-numbered lines.
“Hail in St. Mary’s” is in Modern Scots.
Glossary
gate: way, road, pathgoose-gate: sky gairies: cragsgoose-gate’s gairies: clouds skailt: scattered scarrach: a flying shower snell: quick cranreuch: hoar-frost brattlin: clatteringstanes: stonesfae: from quarrled: quarried skelpt: struck, slappedhooses: housesselkies: sealssiller: silverootfiel: outlying part of a farmselkies’siller ootfiel: sea chingle: coarse gravelbaffed: struck, hit chittered: shiveredcauld: cold tuim: empty tremmlin: tremblinglanesome: lonely ablow: below carry: the motion of the clouds, the sky
Copyright © Colin McKenzie, 2025
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