We went each Sunday for the mass
recited in my parent’s language
that wasn’t mine. The Gaelic gospel

that was just sound, pure sound, to me.
I rose and kneeled, and listened as
my people traded vowel for vowel…

—Niall Campbell, “Tongues of Water”
published in THE ISLAND IN THE SOUND (Bloodaxe Books, 2024)

https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/the-island-in-the-sound-1361

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #minoritylanguages