slumpystones
|
slumpy: Ode to the Amateur Archaeologist
Jan 16, 2007, 23:14
|
While looking for the past concealed
I saw no lumps in yonder field
No barrow, ditch or buried bones
No trilithon, no ring of stones
No avenue to lead me hence
No outer bank, stakeholes or fence
No charred remains, no urn, no cist
Poor amateur archaeologist!
The slightest shadow stirs the blood
The thought of Swallowhead in flood
The dream of unrecorded sites
The faintest markings, chalky white
Long walks through nettles overgrown
Empty-handed, going home
Because there’s nothing there to see
Ah, amateur archaeology!
|
Littlestone
|
The Legend of the Hangman's Stone
Jan 19, 2007, 23:10
|
The Legend of the Hangman's Stone
One shaft he drew on his well-tried yew,
And a gallant hart lay dead;
He tied its legs, and he hoisted his prize,
And he toiled over Lubcloud brow.
He reached the tall stone standing out and alone.
Standing there as it standeth now;
With his back to the stone, he rested his load,
And he chuckled with glee to think
That the rest of his way on the downhill lay,
And his wife would have spied the strong drink,
A swineherd was passing o'er great Ives Head,
When he noticed a motionless man;
He shouted in vain, No reply could he gain,
So down to the grey stone he ran.
All was clear: there was Oxley on one side the stone,
On the other the down-hanging deer;
The burden had slipped, and his neck it had nipped;
He was hanged by his prize all was clear.
The poem refers to death of the deerstealer, John of Oxley of Leicestershire, and his untimely end on the Grey Hangman's Stone.
|
nigelswift
|
Such a small band of brothers and sisters...
Jan 22, 2007, 09:58
|
"Such a small band of brothers and sisters, sharing our love for stones and still places. Easy to forget that they endure while we do not. And in our passing by we might smile and squabble or write a line or two but then, too soon, are gone again."
Thanks for putting those beautiful words on your Meg Poems site as a tribute to Treaclechops Littlestone
http://megalithicpoems.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-of-strong-came-forth-sweetness.html
So unspeakably sad. Perhaps there is a shadow of positivity in the thought that in expressing our thoughts about the stones we all add to their story in a small way.
|
Littlestone
|
Re: Such a small band of brothers and sisters...
Jan 22, 2007, 16:54
|
|
Perhaps there is a shadow of positivity in the thought that in expressing our thoughts about the stones we all add to their story in a small way.
Yes, and Treaclechops added so much, and in such a beautiful way...
|
StoneLifter
|
Francis Sylvester Mahony - the Blarney Stone
Jan 22, 2007, 18:17
|
There is a stone there,
That whoever kisses,
Oh, he never misses
To grow eloquent.
'Tis he may clamber
To a lady's chamber,
Or become a member
Of Parliament.
|
Littlestone
|
Re: Francis Sylvester Mahony - the Blarney Stone
Jan 23, 2007, 10:23
|
Thanks SL - duly added to stack.
Went to Blarney a couple of years ago - just a short bus ride from the centre of Cork. Spent so much time in Blarney Castle gardens though that I never got to kiss the Stone. Some interesting features in the gardens that look like megalithic barrows and the remains of circles - they've been messed around with so much though that it's difficult to tell what they may have once been.
|
CianMcLiam
|
Re: Francis Sylvester Mahony - the Blarney Stone
Jan 23, 2007, 10:26
|
|
Avoid kissing the stone at all costs, its claimed that staff in the castle have taken liberty to urinate on it from time to time!
|
Littlestone
|
Re: Francis Sylvester Mahony - the Blarney Stone
Jan 23, 2007, 11:27
|
|
CianMcLiam wrote: Avoid kissing the stone at all costs, its claimed that staff in the castle have taken liberty to urinate on it from time to time!
Bet they'd just say that they're carrying on the tradition of washing megaliths for medicinal purposes ;-)
|
slumpystones
|
Re: Megalithic Poems:- Alexander Thom: Ancient Monuments
Feb 03, 2007, 20:44
|
Silbury
Has time stood still?
I wondered
As I gazed upon that hollow hill
Exposed to howling wind and rain
Yet silent, still unmoved
Do spirits sleep within its heart?
I wondered
Looking back into the dark
Where bone is old as stone
And legend first drew breath
This Moon upon the Earth
Once shining bright
Now dulled by soil and turf
With beliefs so long forgotten
Those treasures hidden deep within.
This is a place
Of wonder
Of a celestial embrace
Where the Gods touch the Earth
And the Earth meets the Sky
slumpy
|
nigelswift
|
Re: Megalithic Poems:- Alexander Thom: Ancient Monuments
Feb 04, 2007, 20:12
|
|
Nice poem Slumpy. I think the poetrymeister is away till next week so won't have seen it yet.
|
