Poem for November

selected by David Underdown, who provides the commentary.

Shroud

by George Mackay Brown

Seven threads make the shroud,
The white thread,
A green corn thread,
A blue fish thread,
A red stitch, rut and rieving and wrath,
A grey thread
(All winter failing hand falleth on wheel)
The black thread,
And a thread too bright for the eye.

George Mackay Brown (1921 – 1996) was an Orcadian who spent almost his entire life in his native town of Stromness. He was instrumental in establishing the St Magnus Festival. A novelist and playwright as well as a poet, he had a strong creative partnership with Peter Maxwell Davies. ‘Shroud’ shows both his characteristic conciseness and his feel for the music of words. It is taken from his collection ‘Fishermen and Ploughs’ published in 1971 by the Hogarth Press.