(To listen to the poet read the poem, click here.)
*
We ken we’ve said aw this afore
But, please, lend us yer ear fur a minute.
Aye, we’re jist a wee country,
But we’re a wee country wi a big hert,
An when Thomas Hamilton
Stormed intae a schuil gym
An shot dead 16 bairns an their teacher,
Oor hert wis broken.
Nuthin we cuid dae wid bring the wee yins back,
An nuthin we cuid say wid stoap the pain.
So we did the only thing we could think ae;
We changed oor gun laws.
That wis twenty two years ago
An we’ve never hud a mass shootin since.
Some ae ye are sayin,
‘Gie the teachers a gun!’
But is that no like feedin a bag o sweets
Tae a bairn wi toothache?
An the only yin that wins
Is the sweet seller.
Noo, we ken we cannae tell ye whit tae dae,
But we seen a lassie gie a speech oan the news,
An oor hert wis broken
Aw o’er again.
So, please, lend us yer ear
Jist fur a minute.
***