Out on the beach, in the wild wind and salt spray, the waves roaring in, the wet stones glistening in the winter sun – my Scottish ancestors must have known something like this…
Photos from the last three days spent by me on Gemstone Beach, finding many fossil worm cast stones, a lot of them too big for tumble polishing…
Wolfstone’s song (below) expresses Scottish ties to land, coast and sea, as well as their disruption and loss through the Clearances and emigration. Runrig’s song (further below) speaks of the modern Scottish recovery of identity and the struggle for more control over national direction.
“Here Is Where The Heart Is” by Wolfstone
Here is where the heart is, beats out like a drum
Here is where the Mavis* flies, where she once came from
Here is where the mother tongue resides,
Far from the hands of hate and greed and lies.
This is where my home is, the shore, the sea, the sand
This is where my family were raised from working hands
This is where the toil and sweat and tears
Knew only hardship through those working years.
From farm and croft and residence, they cleared them from the land
Families of young and old with one wave of a hand
Were sent on board to sail the ocean wide
To a stranger’s land o’er wind and sea and tide.
Here is where the heart lies, like those who’ve been before
Here there are no broken ties with brothers on the shore
Here is where the spirit will return
No more to sigh, no more to weep and mourn.
Here is where the heart is, beats out like a drum
Here is where the Mavis flies, where she once came from
Here is where the mother tongue resides,
Far from the hands of hate and greed and lies.
*”Mavis” = Song thrush.
“Recovery” by Runrig
Watching the morning come in on the land
See the moon roll over Skeabost
See the young men late in the glen
All with camans* in hand
Sea winds out on the wild
Sea waves crash onto Uig
See the black homes strung out in a line
Across the island of Skye
I can’t believe
That it’s taking all this time
I can’t believe
My life and my destiny
After the clans, after the clearings
Here I am
Recovering
Should have been home before daylight
It’s not easy when you’re down and hungry
One from the late run rolled up in a coat
I make my way across the moor
For a late summer in ’84
But now there’s a new day dawning
I’ve heard the Braes men talk in Portree
The news from Glendale
And I can’t believe
That it’s taking all this time
I can’t believe
My life and my destiny
After the clans, after the clearings
Here I am
Recovering
Still the morning comes in on the land
See the new sun red and rising
See the corn turn ripe in the fields
See the growth in the glen
And MacPherson’s in Kilmuir tonight
What a night for a people rising
And oh God, not before time
There’s justice in our lives.
*”Camans” = The sticks used in the game of hurling.
Great to see what our favorite bay is like at the moment. John