Bashabi Fraser
(Bashabi Fraser is Professor of English and Creative Writing and
co-founder and Director of the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies
(ScoTs) at Edinburgh Napier University. Her publications include
Letters to my Mother and Other Mothers (2015), Rabindranath
Tagore's Global Vision (2015) and Bengal Partition Stories: An
Unclosed Chapter (2006; 2008). Her awards include the 2015
Outstanding Woman of Scotland, Saltire Society)
Wind and Gorse: On Arthur‛s Seat
- to the Bhajis on the Hills
The wind was the enemy
An aggressive bully
Who schemed to hurl
Us off the slope. Even the slippery
Ground and unanchored rocks
Were willing to stay supine
Refraining from tripping us
Off our balance as we
Aimed for the final peak.
The warmth was in the gorse
Its sunny mustard plenitude
Caressing the eye, hugging the slopes
Burnished by Apollo, the
Colour of love, of kisses
Promises and erotica
Blazing on Arthur‛s Seat, daring
The sullen wind to tear it apart –
Resistant, resplendent and radiant.
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