The Message In The Stone

Ian Scott Massie

A long time ago 

The glacier came cruising down Brown Beck,

Tore the flanks of Slipstone Crags,

And let the erratic story of its slide 

Scatter and scar the collier’s dale.

 

And some time later,

Some neolithic poets paused 

To chip and peck these patterns, grey on grey,

To leave a message no-one understands.

 

And still later 

Foresters came to hedge the hill with pines

And, seeing the stone 

Where the plan said a path should be,

They drilled and prepared to blast.

But something changed their minds

And stayed their hands.

 

Now in the rains and scouring wind

And gentle sun and autumn mist

It lies there still,

Holding its secret safe to itself,

And, in line and curve and shadow,

Telling the oldest tale in Colsterdale. 


Main Location:

Slipstone Crags