Nae chitterin' licht here...

There was an unusual appearance to the sky this evening in Kirkcaldy. For some inexplicable reason, when I looked at the photo, I thought of Hugh McDiarmid's poem "The Watergaw". Inexplicable because a watergaw is a fragment of a rainbow, often seen glimmering amidst clouds - but there is certainly no rainbow here.

Maybe, it was just the atmosphere that struck me as having a similarity.


The Watergaw
Ae weet forenicht i’ the yow-trummle
I saw yon antrin thing,
A watergaw wi’ its chitterin’ licht
Ayont the on-ding;
An’ I thocht o’ the last wild look ye gied
Afore ye deed!

There was nae reek i’ the laverock’s hoose
That nicht—an’ nane i’ mine;
But I hae thocht o’ that foolish licht
Ever sin’ syne;
An’ I think that mebbe at last I ken
What your look meant then.