Poems inspired by Harris Tweed

Haggis a'like Harris Tweed - Robert Burns

 

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak
mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae
skinking ware
... That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!

 

 

The Strand
I met a man in Harris Tweed
As I walked down the Strand;
I turned and followed him like a dog
The breath of hill and sea and bog
That clung about that coat of brown,
And suddenly, in London Town,
I heard again the Gaelic speech,
The scrunch of keel on shingly beach;
... I saw the little lochs where lie
The lilies, white as ivory;
And tumbling down the rocky hills
Came scores of little foaming rills,
I saw the crofter bait his line,
The children herding yellow kine,
The barefoot woman with her creel
The washing-pot, the spinning wheel
The mounds thrown up by patient toil,

To coax the corn from barren soil.
With buoyant step I went along
Whistling a Hebridean song
That Iain Og of Taransay
Sang on enchanted day.
I was a man renewed indeed
Because I smelt that Harris Tweed
As I went down the Strand.

 

 

 

 

* Information derived from the Harris Tweed Authority *