Not only have Hugh Bryden and Hugh MCmillian had poems published in the Herald but another Dumfries and galloway Poet, Mary Smith had her poem published in the Herald that very same week. Well done Mary, in fact well done all of you! What an incredibly creative place Galloway is.

Lost in translation

Once, people spoke their maps.
Everyone knew where lay
rough moorland of the perilous region,
the hill of the eagle,
mountain of awesome grandeur.

Once, people were wary of the crag
of the storm-swept range, made pilgrimage to
the hill of the memorial pile or that other,
above the hollow of the warrior’s tomb

Once, people spoke their land
and what it meant to them,
before strangers, with inflexible tongues,
bringing pen and parchment, plotted

names which whisper only an echo
of what they once were:
Palgowan, Benyellery, Mulwharchar,
Craigmasheenie, Pinbreck,
Corrafeckloch.