Poem of the Month - September 2007

Whiles I think Whiles I think, they’re jist awa oot an seen they’ll be comin back, it’s a bonny day – dinna be fasht, they’ve jist gin oot for a walk. Aat’s it, they’re awa for a walk, an seen, they’ll be comin hame. dinna be fasht, it’s a bonny day, they’re waalkin ti thon knowe heid. They’re jist waalkin on aheid o’s, an they winna be comin back, we’ll catch up wi them at e tap in e bricht sunshine. It’s a bonny day up there on thon knowe heid. Mary Johnston Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library fasht - upset knowe heid - hill top from Smaa Spangs: Deutsch to Doric (Poetry Monthly Press, 2006). This pamphlet is a series of translations from the German poems used in songs by composers including Schubert, Wolf and Mahler. ‘Whiles I think’ is Mary Johnston’s Doric version of the poem ‘Oft denk ich’ by Friedrich Ruckert, set by Gustav Mahler as one of his set of five songs called ‘Kindertotenlieder’.

About the Poet Mary Johnston nee Mackie was brought up in rural Aberdeenshire and now lives in Midlothian. The Doric dialect was her first language, forbidden in school where she was told to 'speak proper', ie English. She has two pamphlets of poetry, Teuchat Storm, a collection of early childhood memories, Smaa Spangs, translations of German Lieder and a pamphlet of five short stories with biblical themes, Kennt His Faither. All three pamphlets have CDs of Mary Johnston reading the texts.

The inspiration for the poem: Mary says: 'From time to time I write with a group of friends and we agreed to write a ballad one evening. Mine told of the story of a woman who let her children out to play and they died in a snow storm. The story seemed familiar; it is of course the last song of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, In diesen Wetter. When I looked at the text, a poem by Ruckert, I was surprised how close the Doric was to the original German. This inspired me to translate and produce a pamphlet Smaa Spangs Deutsch to Doric of german Lieder into the Doric dialect. Whiles I think is the fourth poem, Oft denk ich, in the Kindertotenlieder (Songs for Dead Children).'