In a Time of Distance: and Other Poems - Hardcover

McCall Smith, Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593315987 ISBN 13: 9780593315989

Publisher: Pantheon, 2022

Synopsis

In a beautiful and transporting volume of poems, the beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series takes us on a captivating journey from Africa to Greece, London to North America to Mumbai, and back home to Scotland, celebrating people, places, animals, and books.

What matters most in life? For Alexander McCall Smith, it is friendship, love, and travel—the themes found throughout his work that have made him a cherished writer the world over. This first collection of McCall Smith’s poems reflects on these topics with all his characteristic wit and charm.
 
There are moments of sweeping insight and soaring feeling, and moments that will have you laughing along as they subtly shift your worldview. This inimitable writer shares his distinctively astute and good-natured observations on life, love, and beauty, reminding us of the deep satisfaction that can be found when we open ourselves up to the world with our whole heart, and watch as it takes on a kinder and gentler shape.

About this title

About the Author

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels and of a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From In a Time of Distance and Other Poems

By Alexander McCall Smith

Some years ago I visited a friend who has a cottage in Eastern Ontario. One evening, my friend demonstrated to me an unexpected talent.
 
WOLVES
 
I read Farley Mowat and thought

I knew something about wolves,

About how they run down

Their prey in lengthy pursuit,

About the long brotherhoods

Of wolves and their lonely deaths;

I thought I knew about all that

Until I heard a wolf howl in the night,

And was unprepared

For what I heard, for the keening

Of it, the utter desolation.

We stood outside, my friend and I,

With the world white about us

As he cupped his hands

And howled into the darkness;

From somewhere far away

Came a response, a howl so sad

Th at no words could describe

Th e regret of it, the loneliness:

Yes, I am here, it must have said;

Yes, I am here, and that is all.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593315987
• ISBN 13: 9780593315989
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: McIntosh Iain
• Number of pages: 160