This could have been independence day.
It could have been the day when the biggest street party Scotland has ever seen took place. A historic day. A day of colour and song and hope for the future. A future unwritten, ever uncertain and yet full of promise, choice and possibility.
Not on this day.
It could have been the day when Scotland joined the family of independent nations. A day when a new voice was heard on the world stage. A voice long absent, though not forgotten. The voice of a country who finally stopped the world and got on. A day when a bright new thread was woven into a rich international tapestry.
Not on this day.
It could have been the day when the peoples of Scotland ensured that their government would have all the sovereign powers and responsibilities of nationhood. A day that would see an honest ‘VOW DELIVERED’. A government directly accountable to the population, its needs and its aspirations.
Not on this day.
It could have been the day when every person living in Scotland would have been able to look to Holyrood and know for an absolute certainty that the government they vote for is the government they get. A day when representative democracy and a chance to remake their politics was born into an old land.
Not on this day.
It could have been the day when the peoples of Scotland said we’re here and we’re a friend to all who want to take our hand and a burden to none. A day for the young to look forward with expectation and for the old to say, ‘We did our best, now over to you’.
Not on this day. Not quite yet.
Tomorrow though?
Tomorrow is another day.
Wee Ginger Dug 
Well said, Macart.
Our day will come and we will cherish it all the more. Saor Alba.
It’s merely one day closer to where we want to be, the clock is ticking.
We don’t do easy, we never have and we never will,
But make it slow and grinding, in the worst of weather,
And watch us, just watch us, as we build foundations of granite,
Side by side with neighbours
One bit of decency at a time
It’s comin yet fir aw that.
“One bit of decency at a time”.
I like that, Daisy.
So sad! But were not giving up.xx
Sent from my iPad
>
[…] This could have been… […]
THE PAIN
Why are you crying Granny are you suffering from a pain?
That question went unanswered as my tears fell down like rain
The child then listened quietly to the story he was told
I voted for your future for a country you could mould
But my dream was sadly shattered, and yes, I have a pain
Your life would be so different, you had so much to gain
Let me tell you what was lost to you, to what we threw away
For like a fortune teller I could see the price we’d pay
A rage burns in my belly, it’s often hard to cope
Knowing those less able have been robbed of any hope
The sick, the poor, disabled, and folk with no abode
I could see that those with nothing would have to bear the load
They’ve now been left to sink or swim and no one seems to care
I find as each day passes it’s just too much to bear
The chance to have your nation, to stand, so proud and tall
To care and share your riches, to lift up those who fall
I knew the road would twist and turn we’d sail on stormy seas
For you my child I didn’t care, I’d crawl on hands and knees
No riches do I want nor need, but in my heart I crave
A life for you so different if only we’d been brave
The dream was not for me alone for now I am too old
My independence gift to you was worth much more than gold
So that is why I’m crying but your time will come once more
And when it does you grab it and let your spirit soar
Magnificent, Margaret.
‘Weep not for me, but for your children, and your children’s children.’
With your permission ‘Id like to print this off and frame it.
Thank you, please feel free to use it as you wish
Just brilliant, Margaret. Trust me, yer poem is up there wi’ the best of Rabbie Burns.
Wonderful Margaret! Thank you
Moving verse Margaret.
Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful
Expresses exactly how this auld Granny felt too, then and now, but our day will dawn…Thank you Margaret…..this one’s going in the bairns History box!
I needed something to lift this day, of all days. Thank you.
Wonderfully expressed Margaret!! Thank you.
Margaret-that says it all. It’s definitely up there with Son I voted Yes. Hope you don’t mind but I’ve copied it over to Wings as it deserves to be read by one & all. Well done
Thank you all for your kind words.
I will never understand how a country that has over the years given so much to the world and will have so much still to give could be denied by it own people its rightful place in the world
I weep for those so lacking in self confidence and confidence in their fellow man that they turned down the chance to right so many wrongs
It is really, really hard to understand such people Margaret.
Margaret your poetry is just braw. Have you had any published and if not you really should consider doing so. .
I hope you don’t mind but I’ve taken you at your word and put this up on twitter as I think it should be shared with as many folk as possible. It had a lot to do with the tear in my eye when I was reading Sam’s post and the comments. Thank you for that.
Thank you Margaret. Very moving.
I think this might well be widely distributed shortly.
Jack has the right idea. This is worth framing.
I hope you write some more and publish them, with this one.
Thanks Soar, just to lighten the mood I wrote this for Macart a while back I think he was flitting at the time. Maybe he’ll remember better than I can
A hiv a wee cairt it’s like an auld freen
A shove it aroon an a painted it green
The wheel is weel worn the tyre’s got nae tread
At wan time a thocht a micht ca’ it Fred
Noo a use ma wee cairt tae move things aroon
An next week a’ll be flitting tae the smert end o toon
If ma new neibours come ca’in I ken fae the start
A’ll hae talk posh so a’ll ca’ it Macart
🙂
Brilliant! I can see macart was well pleased. He obviously remembered it.
Seriously. Write, collect and publish. Talent should not be hidden.
On this day, we Ayes needed both macart’s post and your poem, as well as the brilliant comments from our regular friends on here.
Very moving, Margaret. I too thought I was leaving my great-grandchildren a brighter future. But our time will come again, and this time, we will prevail.
Thanks , I just hope I live long enough to see it
I love that Margaret…may i copy it and post ?
Thank you, please feel free to use it as you wish
That is GREAT
I can add no more, Macart.
Tomorrow is indeed another day.
‘Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command,
The times they are a’changin’ ‘
Saor Alba.
¨Ÿour old world is rapidly ageing, get out of the new one if you can´t lend a hand …¨ (Sorry, couldn´t resist that)
‘Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.’
Dylan is infectious, Marconatrix.
Johhny’s still in the basement, fixin’ up the medicine, I’m on the pavement thinkin’ ’bout the government.’
Forever Young.
Was Dylan writing this stuff for us without knowing? ☺
Deep, man.
I had managed to keep it together until now. You had me welling up there Sam, damn you 😀
thanks you have made me very happy ,have a good day
On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 3:46 PM, Wee Ginger Dug wrote:
> Macart posted: “This could have been independence day. It could have been > the day when the biggest street party Scotland has ever seen took place. A > historic day. A day of colour and song and hope for the future. A future > unwritten, ever uncertain and yet full of promis” >
This is also a day when we have won a ‘Treasury’ – Revenue Scotland. Which will grow in expertise and confidence that we will need in future.
And a day when we know we will have a Social Security Department, which will be about caring, not just about cost-cutting. And which will grow in confidence and expertise. And one less set up cost at the final step, for we will already have it up and running.
And a day when we know that our Government will get borrowing powers, and begin to build a track record that we will need for our own currency
A day when we have seen the Red Tories destroy themselves, and the BBC lose any credibility with half the population.
And above all a day when we have not slipped back an inch, and see support growing a little every day.
And from now on, Derek, we will not give an inch.
Saor Alba.
Scotland Forever
The best things are always worth waiting for…
Tomorrow is another day, and our day will come.
Nicely put Sam, but then again we have the ‘most powerful devolved parliament on the planet’!
Not as powerful as fully self governing Isle of Man though, with their own currency,which successfully shadows the £: own tax system, responsible for everything apart from defence and external affairs, and NOT subordinate to the government of UK, who have had 30 years of economic growth averaging 6%, listed by OECD/G20 ‘White List’, rated AA+ and AAA, and has an unemployment rate typically 2%!
`But then again, how lucky they have not been cursed by having discovered oil, or any other natural resource, as they would be broke by now, and crying to get back to mother UK!
To lift some hearts.
http://stv.tv/news/west-central/1347698-tata-steel-mills-deal-finalised-with-liberty-house/
Excellent news and well done the Scottish Government, who actually do what they say they will.
Stronger for Scotland, unlike the whining from the useless, self-serving Unionist partys.
Aye. That lifted me on a very introspective sort of day.
This is a day for reflection, and some quiet sadness that independence is not yet here. At the end of this day, however, I will summon up whatever hope resolve and determination I have to carry on trying for an independent Scotland. Let us go on.
Gee whizz , I can’t see for tears now.
Jeez man! You’ve got me greeting. Lovely piece too Margaret.
With each month that passes I really do feel we are going to get it “second time around”. Well I’m off home to catch up with the Wee Book 2 for after dinner reading.
I cried at that. So sad.
There will be something better to look forward to soon.
Not feeling great today, so easy to feel upset at what might have been. But I have a daughter to continue to fight for and wish to have an Independence day preferably in the summer months not too far in the future…
Off to indulge in some movie relief with BRAVE.. 🙂
From now on, I think we should refer to 24th March 2016 as our Dependence Day.
A sad day, indeed. 😦
It’s comin’ yet, Luigi.
Aye, it’s comin’ yet…
Bastards Sam. Hate people who make me cry
Sam, I’m afraid your blog today and the comments btl, coupled with the supplement in The National, makes our sense of loss and missed opportunity all the worse.
I’m afraid that I felt from the 19th of September last year that we would all have to suffer the consequences of the Nay-Sayers decision for several years before the penny would drop for the Soft Noes. Unfortunately, millions of Scots will have to endure the Tory lash while the SNs finally grow a backbone and develop some self-respect.
I still believe my daughters will live in an independent Scotland because, as The Who said, the kids are all right: it’s the brainwashed UKOKians we have to worry about.
I want my Scottish passport before I pop my clogs. Is that too much to ask?
Sad day indeed Macart, reflecting on what might/should have been. Thanks to WOS for its Wee Black Book – we now know what NO has meant for Scotland.
I hope Scotland now has the full measure of its opponents if it hadn’t before as its war for Independence is just starting
There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.
If you voted Yes, then likely you did not rue the day and sleep well on it. There may be many abed in Scotland, I suspect, that wish they had been with us on that day and had the power to turn back time.
This Play has many twists and turns yet, let us see what may unfold.
A reflective day on what could have been, but one day closer to independence. Loved Margaret’s poem too. Had a hard time reading all the posts with my eyes all welled up.
Thanks to you Macart and to those who have commented on this trying day. Many times, when I have felt resentful and terribly negative towards those whose wish has seemed to me to be destroy Scotland, I have been calmed by your comments and those of others of a like mind to yours.
So I will go on doing what I can to promote independence. For as long as I breathe.
It’s been a hard, sad day for me but by tomorrow I will have brushed it aside.
There is no alternative. So much has been achieved already, by so many good, hard working people, to make Scotland a better place for its children.
Saor Alba
well how do you follow Margaret’s sad and yet uplifting post , a wonderful thought provoking sentiment on what is a sad day for a whole lot of people those on the “YES” side with hope and dreams were outfoxed by a lying hate filled bile spewing “NO” campaign that had nothing to offer but hate and downright lies , and this lot are still in full flow making sure the deluded ones who voted “NO” never get to find out the truth , well its only half time we can wait and this time we will be as smart as the “NO” lot , fool me once as the saying goes. If they had fought a honest campaign a lot of people would have just accepted the result and moved on ,well I for one will never accept we lost ,UK PLC by their lies and bordering on the Illegal disregard for any sort of Electoral rules just confirms they would , will and have carried out the biggest fraud in British History , not since Churchill fooled the Nazis with wooden tanks , rubber planes and inflatable ships have so many been fooled by so few , IT ONLY WORKS ONCE ! .
Just remember readers…
It’s all about the last three lines.
Thanks for your message. I really got moved reading it. Mark E
I went through Elgin yesterday and there was a house at the roadside flying a very large Saltrie at half mast. I felt the sorrow.
Ouch. 😧
And pretty much on ten same day UKok giv close down Longannet power station. We now buy energy from englandshire? I feel sick today, re this.
the, not ten