The lost songs of Saint Kilda

                “But the boat comes on the morning tide”, my mother cried
“And afore that then he’ll have tried!” my father sighed
“Before the final song is sung he’ll be a man”
               “But for who will we this wedding plan
                 For all the maids have left this land
                 And the stones are all that now still stand
                 We are the last and the boat awaits
                  Hirta dead and now just lies in state
                  The songs are lost from Saint Kilda now.”
And so it went to and fro the thing that worried my mother so
But my father had faced the Atlantic gale and knew Kildans never fail
And who could be a Kilan man when he the Lover's Stone failed to stand
Therefore we to the hills did walk and grave my father do not want to talk
Till at last the stone I saw and the depth straight down if I should fa'
“Now my son you know I love you dear
But for now I’ll stand me here
And let you venture on alone
Do what’s done since time unknown 
And place your heel into the rock
don’t think about that heady drop
But toe to heel and hand on hand
At the world edge alone you’ll stand
And should it be God’s holy plan
You return to me a full grown man.
And sing the last song for Saint Kilda.”
So I jumped onto the broken rocks without thinking of the deadly drops
And scrambled over the Lover’s Stone till I stood there all alone
And felt the icy northern wind  blow as if it wanted to push me down below
I saw the place for my heel to go and did as others from so long ago
But before I could, someone spoke and I looked up and see some fairy folk

Troll

A tasty morsel to feed my belly so
 It’s been so long since I ate man flesh
So young and juicy and oh so fresh
Especially if he’s mountain pressed
By falling down, down so far below

Kelpie

If He falls down here you hairy brute
He’ll be the main dish in our ocean bed
And keep my sisters and me so well fed
Served with wiggling eels and fine fish heads
With a side of sea floor ocean fruit!

The Elven folk

Not one boyish hair shall you consume
For as he stands on the precipice
And becomes a man with such great ease
All of you remember this, we besiege
That he is the one that marks our doom.
And halts the songs of St Kilda

And as I wiped the sea from my eye I blinked as they said goodbye
Until I, the sea, the wind and rain were all the world’s edge retained 
Then heel in rock and heel to toe, hand on hand with the church below
I reached out o'er the lovers stone and said farewell to my family home

But then rain rot rock gave fast away, as I at the passing of the day
Began to fall towards the hungry sea till the very air clung to me
And then said a whisper in my ear, I am the very first that landed here
And in all time since then and now I have upheld my solemn vow
That no son from the village fair shall be surrendered to the air
So stand again on the welcome stone and as a man return you home.
The last sweet note of Saint Kilda.

And there I stood a man at last and honoured our sacred past
And ere sun rose in the east we headed back to our final feast
Where we sang with one pure heart before on the morning tide we depart
And lost the songs of St. Kilda.

Tags: love, rhyme, deep, hope, imagery,