Eilean Donan Poem by Laurence Overmire

The most iconic of Scottish
Castles

A brave sentinel standing guard
Over the guid land of
Kintail

Commanding a stretch of island
Where three great sea lochs
Meet
Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh
In the Western Highlands

Founded in the 13th century
A stronghold of Clan Mackenzie and
Their bodyguard allies of Clan Macrae

Destroyed in the Jacobite Rising
Of 1719
Left in ruins for almost 200 years

Purchased in 1911
Painstakingly restored by
Lt. Col. John MacRae-Gilstrap and
Finally re-opened in 1932

Now a national treasure
Thanks to the vision of one man

Without these few determined
Individuals
There wouldn't be much
Left of the past for any of us
To enjoy

All peoples and all cultures
Should take note

Life is much more
Than the here and now

We should do all we can
To preserve our antiquities.

~ Laurence Overmire

(Previously published in The Ghost of Rabbie Burns: An American Poet's Journey Through Scotland, Indelible Mark Publishing,2016)