The Ghent Review Volume1, Number 1, summer 2016 | Page 12

Carrigdangan Clachan
(dinnseanchasthese)
for piers floyd
the shrinking acres
ruin, and an unregarded grave
i
this is carrigdangan
built on a rocky outcrop
of bloodred sandstone
founded on the hard facts
that fill the daylight labours
that drain into pitch-black nights
reading the lay of the land
and knowing full well
what the weather can do
the decision to build
here in the lee of the wind
was a canny one
the who and when of it
remains unknown still
a time before records
perhaps were worth
the cursive penmanship
the keeper's time and ink
not so the how of it
the disposition of stones
volumes and walls
are a standing testament
to the maker's mark
time-honoured as ogham
modest and as eloquent
the cut stone speaks
of the time and tools
forged with a job in mind
of strength and an eye
keen as a plumb line
living here is to feel
as if the genii of place