An t-earrach so agus so chaidh
's gath fichead earrach bho 'n an tùs
tharruing ise 'h fheamainn fhuar
chum biadh a cloinne's duais an tùir

This Spring and last spring
and every twenty Springs from the beginning
she has carried the cold seaweed
for her children's food and the castle's reward

'S gach fichead foghar tha air triall
chaill i samhradh buidh nam blàth
is threabh an dubh-chosnadh an clais
tarsuinnn mìnead ghil a clàir

and every twenty Autumn's gone
she has lost the golden summer of her bloom
and the Black Labour has ploughed the furrow
across the white smoothness of her forehead


from Summer In Skye

Extract from Ban-Ghàidheal (A Highland Woman) by Somhairle MacLean