Robert Burns has written many memorable poems and songs, some funny, some witty, many bawdy and a few very touching. John Anderson. My Jo is one of the latter, a song about growing old together, of love and companionship towards the end of your life. It is gentle and considerate even though it was formed... Continue Reading →
Robert Burns died on July 21, 1796 at his home in Dumfries. He was only 37 years old but despite his years left a mark like no other poet in the soul of his nation. Consigned to earth, here rests the lifeless clay, Which once a vital spark from heaven inspired! The lamp of genius... Continue Reading →
a partisan for the pretender When Charles Edward Stuart came to Scotland in 1745 to conquer his crown and his realm, the young king-to-be landed in the Western Highlands, where he could count on most supporters. There were not many in the Borders who would have given him unwavering support, with one big exception: James... Continue Reading →
Beauty of decay, stillness of remembrance, solitude amongst headstones, what is it people seek on graveyards? It had become popular with the Victorians to drink in the beauty of old graveyards: mist shrouding the past, breathtaking light on ancient stone, the remoteness of hidden places. It was all part of the sublime and the beautiful.... Continue Reading →
Alexander Grant (Alasdair Mac Iain Bhain) was a poet and a soldier. He grew up near Invermoriston in the small and remote village of Achnaconeran (Achadh nan Conbhairean) to the west of Loch Ness, to be a gifted man of sensitivity and strength, a man of thought as well as action, a bard and a... Continue Reading →
S coma nair no àit' ar n-eung dhuinn 'S greadhnachas gun fheum ar tòrraidh. The time or place of our death doesn' t matter, since happiness doesn' t need a funeral. Bàrdachd Mhgr. Ailein. The Gaelic Poems of Fr Allan MacDonald. Transcribed, translated and published by John Lorne Campbell; 1965
Shakespeare’s sonnet Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? is all-encompassing, expressing love and evanescence, life and death. A more than apt poem for a beautiful graveyard on sunny Scottish summer’s day: Dervaig burial ground. And summer’s lease hath all too short a date The temptation of monochrome is easily desisted... Continue Reading →
Nae Day Sae Dark Nae day sae dark; nae wüd sae bare; Nae grund sae stour wi' stane; But licht comes through; a sang is there; A glint o' grass is green. Wha hasna thol'd his thorter'd hours And kent, whan they were by, The tenderness o' life that fleurs Rock-fast in misery? William... Continue Reading →
A poet, a fighter, a preserver; innovative, visionary, extraordinary; an old Gaelic voice still to be heard. Alexander MacDonald, in his language better known as Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, born around 1695, died in 1770 in Arisaig. His body should have been laid to rest on Eilean Fhìonain but heavy storms made transport to the island... Continue Reading →
Graveyards of Scotland 
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