Murkle Bay by anon
(With apologies to Galway Bay, Thurso Bay and Sinclair Bay .)
c.1951


If you ever want a necklace for your girlfriend
And you cant afford the prices of today
Sure, it needn’t cost a groat nor yet a buckie
You’ll find it ready made in Murkle Bay.


They may sing of golden strands at Keiss or Galway
And the witching beams that down the dying day
But there’s naught outshines the string o’ sil’vry selags
That crowns the evening’s sport in Murkle Bay.


Ah! ‘tis there one finds the native charm of Caithness !
See her shapely limbs go linking up the brae,
As she shoos the homeward train of dappled ducklings
From when they fill such eggs in Murkle Bay.


Though the barren crags of Dunnet frown and fright us
And the storm clouds dwell on Orkney ‘cross the way
We need never lack the promised ray to cheer us
There’s aye a glint o’ green in Murkle Bay.


( For although we’ll sell no more Pittodrie Uprights
And our bonnie bulls are all but ‘given away’
Sure the Caithness tup and you’ve well see their boots off
And keep the ‘Golden Fleece’ in Murkle Bay.)


Then arise ! ye Caithness bards and sing your best song
Proclaim the golden glories of your day
For instead of fleeting moonshine over Claddach
There’s subsidies an’ fish in Murkle Bay.