Tag Archives: Long Barrow

We have captured the stones

July 1, 2017archeology, Life, philosophy, poem, Poetry, speculative poetryarcheology, Life, Long Barrow, poem, poetry, prehistory, speculative poetry, Stone age, stone circles, StonehengeThe Cheesesellers Wife

We have captured the stones in their circles
First with maps and sketches
Now with our many photographs
They would otherwise move
Dance in the moonlight
Shuffle away to the devils lair
Creep up on a King or a witch

We have opened the barrows to sunlight
Pinned them to history by interpretive notices
Collected the bones within
Lurking on ridges, smothered with grass
Besieged by fields and fences
Children explore and play in the chambers
Where once ancestors dreamed

Do the stones protest at their confinement?
Do barrow wights still lurk after dark?
Have we chased away the Gods-smith?
Do we care?

Chalklands

April 29, 2017archeology, history, Life, nature, poem, Poetry, Scienceburial, Chalk, Downs, England, flint, geology, hill fort, history, Life, Long Barrow, neanderthal, Neolithic, poem, poetry, prehistory, Stone age, stone circlesThe Cheesesellers Wife

Chalklands

Chalk undulates across Southern England
Hills, gentle yet steep
Can be overtopped by clay peppered with flints
So treasured by the old folk

As old as the hills is true here
The chalk is a two hundred million year ocean
Stiffened and folded over time
By our living planet

Several human species
Have hunted in these valleys
Have dug into and sculpted these hills
Have left their ghosts for us to trace

The ancient monuments we treasure
Hill forts, stone circles, long barrows
Are but modern remnants
Compared to the first folk

My hills have deep roots