VERSES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES	1981–1990
From THE ENDS OF OUR TETHERS 2003	Poem: Alasdair Gray © 2005
20 – A Spell Against Envy, attributed to Luke Aiblins

Rascals whose energy made history

had splendid banquets, buildings,

songs of praise

they never made. Digestion, rot and fires

undid their solid things. The finest hymns

cannot outlive the language of their choirs.

Only the joy of making things anew

outlive the owners & the makers too –

those fabricators, songsters, cooks who give

web, honeycomb, nest, burrow, beaver dam,

house, clothing, story, music & tasty stew.

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