Overview
In this poem Kay looks at the experience of her then-partner, who moved away from Scotland when she was an eight year old child. Kay considers the effect this move had on her accent. She laments the loss of the Scottish words she used to say such as "dreich", "wabbit" and "crabbit" and compares them to words with longer vowels spoken down south.
Throughout the poem, Kay implies that the girl had no control over the change in her accent. It is something that happens when you become surrounded by different voices. The experience is not just one person's, it is universal.
Despite this, she wants her "old tongue" back. She prefers it to the English words she has grown used to saying and endeavours to resuscitate it. The poem suggests that the words are still part of her, lying dormant in the soil, ready to be found and brought back to life.