IN EARNEST BUT NO LATE
(In memoriam Anthony J C Kerr)
by Neil R. MacCallum

Listen to this poem in Real Audio read by Marilyn P Wright
 

Lourd herts at Castlewuid thon day 
Fowk gaithert there wi dule and wae
      But ye werena late.

There’d been nae freit, nae sign tae see 
Naething the shaw that destinie
      Kent your last laich gait.

We mum that ye are wede awaw 
Ken weil there is thru naitur’s law
      An ugsum cheil cried fate.

Ye teilt hou Kerr’s wald "haud the border" 
Rade out frae Jethart in guid order
      The tak a southron gait

But nou ye can straivaig nae mair 
Aye-bydin in the deid man’s lair,
      In earnest but no late.

NOTES: (1) The title is an adation o the Kerr motto "Sero sed serio" (Late but in earnest).

(2) The Kerrs were a faur kent Border familie whase principal seat wes Ferniehurst castle, near Jethart. Anthony Kerr scrievit its historie.