A subtle and adept technique, combined with a sharp wit, keen eye and pointed sense of humour, creates poems of memorable cadence and theme.

The title is taken from the remnants of a sign outside a hospital, now closed, that features in the moving reminiscences of an elderly passenger on a bus. Other poems invoke such varied characters as a Welsh pirate, a superb fiddler, a mediaeval woodcarver and Buffalo Bill.

The wild and beautiful Shetland Isles provide inspiration for a number of works, including ’Voices in Mousa Broch’, ’Sailing to Islands’, and ’Under Way.’ A final section is devoted to several of the author’s noteworthy translations from the German of Andreas Gryphius, Friedrich Von Logau and others.