Of Ane Blak-Moir

"Of Ane Blak-Moir" is a short comic poem in Scots by William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460).
It takes the form of a hymn in praise of a beautiful lady, but is a parody of the form. The lady addressed is apparently an African woman playing a role in a chivalric pageant. It is one of the first references to someone of Sub-Saharan African origin living in Scotland.
The text of the poem is preserved in the Maitland Folio Manuscript.
The Poem
"Of Ane Blak-Moir" is written in five short and simple stanzas. The tone is one of scurrilous comedy. In the first two stanzas, the poet describes his subject's unfamiliar complexion and features in comically impolite terms.

Lang heff I maed of ladyes quhytt,
Nou of an blak I will indytt,
That landet furth of the last schippis,
Quhou fain wald I descryve perfytt,
My ladye with the mekle lippis.


Quhou schou is tute mowitt lyk an aep,
And lyk a gangarall
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