Sheena Blackhall Poems

1.The Brig
After The Scream, Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Dae ye wauk forrit, or dae I step back?
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1.Tree Circle

Blaik in the gloamin five derk trees
Gaither the hoodies tae their eaves
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1.The Castlegate's Mary
The 7th panel carved at the top of the Mercat Cross in Aberdeen's Castlegate, is that of Mary Queen of Scots. After the Battle of Corrichie, Lord John Gordon was executed before Mary in Aberdeen.

Queen Mary views her subject in the toun
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1. We’ll Meet Where there’s no more sorrow

We’ll meet where there’s no more sorrow
My child, where all dreams start
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As King Robert the Bruce lay dying in 1329 he asked Sir James Douglas to take his heart on crusade against the enemies of Christ. Douglas carried Bruce’s heart into battle against the Moors in Spain before it was returned to Scotland and finally
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If he wooed, he won the willing lady
When he wrote, rich rhythms he outlayed
If he drank, the deepest draught he swallowed
When he ploughed, the plovers piped and played
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He loves me, he loves me not

How vain to imagine I’d cherish a photo of him
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(based on soldiers' testimony)

Some of the huts were torched
Some of the younger soldiers were killing kids
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Mountains, snow-swept mountains of Arctic grandeur
Where no sweet bird finds rest in Winter’s thrall
Your streams should run with blood for a thousand aeons
You watched and did not hinder Clan Donald’s fall
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As I walked along the shore of the Irish Sea
Up he rose from the water, uninvited
My husband, young as a rowan sprig in flower
Having left his gun on the ground of Ulster's troubles
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