Thursday 4 April 2013

Lady Bay Island


Travels to watery edges of Lady Bay... the urban landscape never far away, the noise of traffic and people wandering its shores always within earshot until reaching this spot... off the beaten track...

This place to the east of the island has a mournful soulfulness. The village of Adbolton functioned as a harbour and once stood on the banks of the loop - the dismembered arm of the oxbow now creates two ponds either side bordered on every side with tall, spindly ashes and birches. However I've also read that the pools were created by bombs dropped during WW2 - the subsequent scene evoking the aftermath of warfare making it a very silent place with a sense of watery burials. I even believe that the crackle of frozen leaves trodden underfoot could belong to souls waiting patiently to depart this world and the accompanying birdsong is irridiscent lyrics...

The last visit blue and red markings on the trees suggesting a darker, murkier practice of recalling the dead or lost ones.





Bheir me o, horo van o
Bheir me o, horo van ee
Bheir me o, o horo ho
Sad am I, without thee.

When I’m lonely, dear white heart,
Black the night or wild the sea,
By love’s light my foot finds
the old pathway to thee.

Chorus

Thou’rt the music of my heart;
Harp of joy, o cruit mo chruidh;
Moon of guidance by night;
Strength and light thou’rt to me.

Marjory Kennedy-Fraser Eriskay Love Lilt 
Song of the Hebrides

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