Search results

Start typing

Gold at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse
This exhibition is in the past. View our current exhibitions.

Gold Song 9

First before nothing
was zero; that dark space
a gap;
the first baby
could sing it;
surprise at the brightness; the blackbirdsoaked
morning;
the lips a round gurgle; the first cry
a tickle; turned into a flood.

First cry was waiting
for round lips to soften; the well up; surprise at
the full stop. The ending;
a halt in the ground.

And first words like Daddy
are heard on a hard day
like breaks
in a sound.
First teeth in line up are waiting
all counting
the gums;
the crown hoards in darkness;
the shapes of the sounds.

Naming those first words
like gold and like ground.

But back to that zero before those things happened;
Before In the beginning; the husband complaining;
the wife was a message; a gold-digging cow.

You were wandering out; seafarer in pram.
Beach was a gold space; a song bird;
song turning all shadows dark red.
You tipped over the edge.

Nicola Mayne


The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.