Poem of the month - February 2007

On Balance All day cloud-emptied rain came brattling down, grip-loosening roots of growing things to mud, making the fields across the river drown and bruising many a too soon opened bud. Here, where desk-planners thought to put a town, the river spreads out swollen, sullen flanks, the surface now a gale-force-rippled scud, grass islands turfing out the sunken banks. Too much of what’s the elemental source that nurtures life around our tiny earth while edgeless space revolves its barren force, balances out hot-breathing summer’s dearth; allowing us assume all will stay well however chance and circumstance impel. Maurice Lindsay Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet Maurice Lindsay was born in Glasgow on 21 July 1918 and was brought up there. He wished to become a musician, but an injury to his wrist while serving in the Cameroonians (Scottish Rifles) during the war prevented this ambition. He finished the war as a Staff Officer in the War Office, married Joyce Gordon and became a frequent broadcaster as well as music critic of 'The Bulletin' (the Herald’s pre-television companion daily) and, later, the first Director of the Scottish Civic Trust. On retiring from the SCT, he spent nine years as Honorary Secretary General of Europa Nostra, a European conservation body. His books include several volumes of poetry and the anthology 'The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth Century Scottish Poetry', co-edited with Leslie Duncan (Edinburgh University Press).  With the late George Bruce, he edited and presented the BBC Scottish Radio programme, 'Scottish Life and Letters'. He also presented Burns’s The Jolly Beggars in 1957, the first television production in Scotland. He and his wife now live in Bowling, Dunbartonshire, overlooking the River Clyde.

If you have enjoyed this poem, you can borrow a range of poetry from the Scottish Poetry Library, who also lend by post. Telephone 0131 557 2876 or email reception@spl.org.uk. For an online catalogue, poetry events listings and more featured poems, please visit the Scottish Poetry Library website.