After His Death

Norman MacCaig

for Hugh MacDiarmid

It turned out

that the bombs he had thrown

raised buildings:

that the acid he had sprayed

had painfully opened

the eyes of the blind.

Fishermen hauled

prizewinning fish

from the water he had polluted.

We sat with astonishment

enjoying the shade

of the vicious words he had planted.

The government decreed that

on the anniversary of his birth

the people should observe

two minutes pandemonium.