by George Mackay Brown (1921 - 1996)
Old fisherman with guitar
Language: English
A formal exercise for withered fingers.
The head is bent,
The eyes half closed, the tune
Lingers
And beats, a gentle wing the west had thrown
Against his breakwater wall with salt savage lament.
So fierce and sweet the song on the plucked string,
Know now for truth
Those hands have cut from the net
The strong
Crab-eaten corpse of Jock washed from a boat
One old winter, and gathered the mouth of Thora to his mouth.
Confirmed with George Mackay Brown, Selected Poems 1954 - 1992, John Murray Press, 2014
Text Authorship:
- by George Mackay Brown (1921 - 1996), "Old Fisherman with Guitar" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Claire Liddell (b. 1937), "Old fisherman with guitar", 1975 [ soprano and piano ], from Five Orkney Scenes, no. 1, Roberton Publications [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-05-03
Line count: 12
Word count: 77