Declarations Winner: Elspeth Brown – “Declaration of Dunbar”

From the anthology, Declarations: On Freedom for Writers and Readers, Professor Sir Tom Devine has selected three prize winners. We are delighted to announce that Elspeth Brown was selected for her piece, “Declaration of Dunbar”

Elspeth Brown

Declaration of Dunbar

To whom it may concern out there beyond our universe,

let the pen be mightier than plastic particles and carbon waste.

Mightier than ignorance, cruelty and prejudice

in this year of twenty twenty. We begin this fight

by our local harbour with its fishing boats

unloading.  We strive for our country of Scotland,

for our Irish, Welsh and English neighbours; for Europe,

 to whom we have long been close, and the diverse world beyond.

 Let us campaign with the energy of youth alongside Greta Thunberg;

with the wisdom of experience alongside David Attenborough.

Let us all see we are only one of the creatures of the earth,

and the most destructive. We have the words and must use them

for all. The walrus with his flippers round his young,

the penguin male with his precious egg on his feet,

the seal in our harbour, the kittiwakes returning every year,

blue hares on the hills, bees, flowers, from the snowdrop to the wild rose,

forests of the highlands and lowlands,

 the dwarf birch shrub endangered

in the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland,

we need to speak for them all.

Even befriend the fly on the windowsill.

We will not give up our freedom of speech or our liberty,

 which no honest man will lose but with his life,

while there are still a hundred voices crying for our earth.

Declarations on Freedom for Writers and Readers is published by Scotland Street Press, ISBN 978-1-910895-42-9, price £9.99, and is available from 6 April 2020 from the publisher www.scotlandstreetpress.com and from bookshops when they re-open.