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Image Not Available for Seal - The Scottish Bestiary
Seal - The Scottish Bestiary
Image Not Available for Seal - The Scottish Bestiary

Seal - The Scottish Bestiary

Artist (St Andrews, Scotland, born 1951)
Associated (Stromness, Orkney, Scotland, 1921 - 1996)
Date1986
Mediumlithograph on paper
ClassificationsPrints
DimensionsOverall: 58.4 x 39.4cm (23 x 15 1/2in.)
AcquisitionPurchased in 1986 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG007562.5
Keywords
About MeOne of twenty prints by seven Scottish artists for the artist's book, 'The Scottish Bestiary', illustrating the writing in poetry and prose of George Mackay Brown. The printed text on the opposite page reads:
SEAL
(Night-song)

You, gray one, will end
Under a blunt club.
The shopkeeper
Must have slippers to his
sugar-and-snuff fireside feet.

You, joy of the rocks
Will take a hundred trout and haddocks.
A cluster of fine wives
will wait at the shore for you,
lord of the gray circles.

You, horizon seeker
Will change with harps
To a corn girl.
Night wind on sea and rock
Will keep you awake in a wooden bed.

I forget all the large young eyes.
A few have voyaged
Far westward.
They have got sanctuary in caves,
or in beautiful stories.