Assoc for Scottish Literature on Nostr: Remember, man, that thou art dust. The earl kneels, the ash of the end is written on ...

Remember, man, that thou art dust.

The earl kneels, the ash of the end is written on his brow.

A captain of ships kneels, to be put in mind of a death in a far port, or at home, or on a rock of the sea.

And the boy that holds cinders for the priest,
His forehead is smeared,
Who wears a coat of fourteen Aprils…

—George Mackay Brown, “Ash Wednesday”
Published in TRAVELLERS (John Murray, 2013)

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