Ravens at Kelso: a Poem

My dad's family came from this area in Scotland. Kelso Abbey was one of the great abbeys in the Scottish Borders razed by Henry VIII during the period of the "Rough Wooing".

I'll never forget being there, and the great black birds croaking among the ruins and the headstones. Here is a poem I wrote about our visit.

Established in 1128

 

 

 

Ravens at Kelso Abbey

by Gayle Weatherson

I heard them croak in Kelso’s ancient kirkyard,

Among the flinty ruins of the abbey:

Rasping cries from tree to tree, echoing stone to stone

Like knives cutting through the silent morning.

The swoop and glide of dark feathers;

A glimpse of wing and flash of tail,

Sharp against the pale grey pearl of sky;

The curving whisper of air displacement

As one lit upon a bough of twisted pine.

 

A single feather fluttered,

 

black as night, beneath the tree,

An obsidian blade shining sable on the green green grass,

Although there was no sun.

 

The Abbey