Today (14th November 2010) would have been the 100th birthday of Norman MacCaig, one of Scotland's great poets.
This one of his finest poems. We've all known men like this, but not had the talent to celebrate their lives in such a beautiful way.
Praise of a Man
He went through a company like a lamplighter –
see the dull minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficent light.
He went through a company like
a knifegrinder – see the dull minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.
He went through a company
as himself. But now he's one
of the multitudinous company of the dead
where are no individuals.
The beneficent lights dim
but don't vanish. The razory edges
dull, but still cut. He's gone: but you can see
his tracks still, in the snow of the world.
Sunday 14 November 2010
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