A Bitter Wind
A poem about Culloden Battlefield today and the effects of the subsequent highland clearances.
And so, t’is a bitter wind that blows
around Drumossie.
A plaintive crow that lends a single voice
piercing guilty silence.
The moss itself, whispers among the slanted stones,
footsteps sinking into sacrifice.
Distant, calm blue firth betrays the battle-yells
awake forever on the breeze.
Over heathered moors, ruined cottages
stand sentinel to different times;
The Rowan, redundant now.
Red berries speak of spilled blood
and failure to protect hearth and home
from supernatural but more so,
corporeal…
A weeping wound with no stopping;
Engrained on Highlanders for all time,
the ghostly call of the empty glens
echoes down the ages.
Ah! There speaks a lowlander.
Look, I am not going to enter into a discussion as to the reasons for the slaughter of Glencoe, although it IS a fact that even today, many McDonalds do not care for Campbells. This is my own poem, written in my own style about something I do happen to know a lot about and not from the romanticised version that is often displayed.
Nor will I enlarge on the terrible Highland clearances. Culloden and its aftermath were unique in many ways,and had very far reaching consequences that are still there today.
HA
I stand by the last verse. Being a Highlander born and brought up in the Highalnds that is my opinion.
slainte