Aunt Julia - Norman MacCaig Flashcards
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Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
very loud and very fast.
very fast. …
I could not answer her —
I could not understand her.
understand her. …
She wore men’s boots
when she wore any.
wore any. …
— I can see her strong foot,
stained with peat,
paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel
while her right hand drew yarn
marvellously out of the air.
out of the air. …
Hers was the only house
where I’ve lain at night
in the absolute darkness
of a box bed, listening to
crickets being friendly.
crickets being friendly. …
She was buckets
and water flouncing into them.
flouncing into them. …
She was winds pouring wetly
round house-ends.
house-ends. …
She was brown eggs, black skirts
and a keeper of threepennybits
in a teapot.
house-ends. …
She was brown eggs, black skirts
and a keeper of threepennybits
in a teapot.
very fast. … (2)
By the time I had learned
a little, she lay
silenced in the absolute black
of a sandy grave
at Luskentyre.
