Caithness

Glossary

broch = Pictish  tower
sepulchral  weals = burial mounds
ghostly druid-stones = Stone circles
Clearance = Highland Clearances
flimsy boxes = New, pretentious, housing
fresh and eager crop = Youth and agriculture
peaty-flows = Flow Country (Caithness)
foreign firs = Alien trees - planted by speculators...
                                   Also human incomers.

CAITHNESS

He falls and snuggles like a lover to the floor
dreams spilling from the bottle in the weathered-hand.
Beyond the door dead-brochs lie buried on the moor.
Forebears are but sepulchral-weals upon the land.

Dreams spilling from the bottle in the weathered-hand
where ghostly druid-stones gather for the moon-dance.
Forebears are but sepulchral-weals upon the land,
grey-tombs blending with the plunder of the Clearance.

Where ghostly druid-stones gather for the moon-dance
frail farmer huddles in the shelter of the dell.
Grey-tombs blending with the plunder of the Clearance
as flimsy-boxes march in fashion on the swell.

Frail farmer huddles in the shelter of the dell.
The peasant wearies of the burden of the toil
as flimsy boxes march in fashion on the swell
to shoulder for the view they one-day will despoil.

The peasant wearies of the burden of the toil
just as a fresh and eager-crop spring from the seed
to shoulder for the view they one-day will despoil
aware the time has come to take the misty-lead.

Just as a fresh and eager-crop spring from the seed
out on the peaty-flows the foreign-firs take hold
aware the time has come to take the misty-lead
with roots deep-nourished by the corpses in the mould.

Out on the peaty-flows the foreign-firs take hold.
Beyond the door dead-brochs lie buried on the moor.
With roots deep-nourished by the corpses in the mould
he falls and snuggles like a lover to the floor.