SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1401 Title : Broken sleep Author(s): James Hiddo Moncrieff Copyright holder(s): James Hiddo Moncrieff Text Daffodils don't grow here On this grey granite city crag. Only the sound of seagulls Nesting - cliff-face sounds. Ravens and seagulls flood The rooftops and the early evening sky With their acrobatic glide and twisting stall And the shalder runs a noisy boundary On the slopes of this Georgian Gormengast. I fly in like a homing pigeon To roost within its walls. Midnight and an old bull Bellows his anguish down the hall. A young woman rattles her cage And mine - deaf on methadone. All around me, heavy breathing From the others trapped here. Fire-flies flit the open spaces. The monsoon arrives With the tinkling of bells And old age stares back From the bed opposite. A cricket perched on a tripod Rubs its legs all night long And the young worker bees Toil like ants. Daylight flies in on a predatory wing To claim the empty space behind Your curtain and the gap against the wall. The drones are silent. Breakfast arrives with the drawn curtains The babble of new voices And the day begins anew As the telephone rings. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Text Text audience Adults (18+): General public: Audience size: 1000+ Text details Method of composition: Wordprocessed Year of composition: 2004 Word count: 184 Text medium Magazine (e-zine): Text publication details Published: Publication year: 2004 Place of publication: Shetland Part of larger text: Contained in: The New Shetlander Editor: Laureen Johnson and Brian Smith Page numbers: 16 Text setting Journalism: Text type Poem/song/ballad: Author Author details Author id: 972 Forenames: James Hiddo Surname: Moncrieff Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1940 Educational attainment: College Age left school: 19 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Working class/Socialist Occupation: Retired Place of birth: Lerwick Region of birth: Shetland Birthplace CSD dialect area: Sh Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Bigton Region of residence: Shetland Residence CSD dialect area: Sh Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Telegraphist Father's place of birth: Lerwick Father's region of birth: Shetland Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Sh Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Housewife Mother's place of birth: Loppersum Mother's region of birth: Groningen Mother's country of birth: Holland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Home Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Home