Callanish Diaries (Excerpt 3)
“Old Mrs. McCloud’s Bed and Breakfast”, (Callanish Diaries, Vol.I), 1986
Old Mrs. McCloud
hanging her clothes
each day
in her garden.
Stones marking each point
on the magic triangle
of her world.
She will not walk among them.
Each day at six
she puts a hat on in the house,
prepares the evening meal,
and passes the time…
watching BBC and
speaking Gaelic
with her grown children
who live with her there-
centred in the triangle,
laughing at their Mother’s
tales about the Stones,
but holding in their bellies,
Her fear, her respect-
her awe…
Children of this, and of another time-There is no window in the house that does not look upon these Stones.