On the other side of the border
they call this Scozia Irredenta:
unredeemed.
A few coffers of coins
didn’t change hands; a battle was lost
instead of won; the in-between land
stays in-between.
A line on a map
moved back through the years
down to the Tees.
England was never an only child
but has grown to think so. Stone streets dip –
rise. They’re burning coal on morning fires
in dark front rooms: smoke gusts over roofs.
Gardens, late coming into flower,
brazen it out with bright aubrietia.
I’ve followed the hills to Carter Bar
past lost peels, and moors where soaking sheep
stagger between tufts of died-back grass.
Standing in the rain, she’s there – harassed,
hurt – a foster-mother, telling me
she hasn’t much to offer. I’ll take
my chance: I don’t believe her.
The bends
on the border
won’t make up their minds.
Five times
they twist me round, but I still
head north.
1996
In 1138, David I, King of the Scots, moved the Scottish border down to the Eden and the Tees so that the country was divided into two almost equal parts. At one time Northumbria stretched as far as the Firth of Forth and Cumberland was part of the Celtic kingdom of Strathclyde. For much of the eleventh century Northumbria alternated between Scotland and England and Scottish kings paid homage for Tynedale intermittently for two more centuries. The present border dates from the thirteenth century. [Lomax’s note]
Dochter tae a king, faither sin taen,
mairrit, sin weeda. Aa dinna greet.
Ma lad, Lulach, maun gang hes ain gait
an gie’s ane bricht chance tae lauch again.
Nae weeda gin wife. Aa’m a steekit yett
sae bleth’rin gabs canna ca’ ‘Bizzem’.
It’s sair ta dae – wha winna fa’ whiles?
Aa’m youthfu’ an maun hae a man sune
ellis ma saul sail skirl. Aa munna smuir.
MacBeathain cam yestreen. Dander lass,
ye winna swither an baith say ay.
Daith is aye ahint yon spaywife. Juist
tak wha ye wad – MacBeathain, Macbeth.
1996
Gruoch was directly descended from Kenneth III of Scotland (murdered by Malcolm II to secure the throne for his grandson, Duncan). She married Macbeth c.1032, either when she was pregnant with her son (Lulach) by her first partner, Gillecomgain, or soon after his birth. Lulach succeeded to the throne in August 1057 on the death of Macbeth (who slew Duncan and was, in turn, killed by Duncan’s son, another Malcolm). In ‘Gruoch Considers’, having taken stock of her situation, she argues herself into the second marriage with Macbeth. [Lomax’s note]
weeda: widow; gang hes ain gait: go
his own way; steekit yett: closed
gate; bleth’rin gabs: idle mouths;
bizzem: hussy; skirl: cry in pain; aa
munna smuir: everything can’t be
smothered; yestreen: last night;
dander: saunter; swither: hesitate;
spaywife: fortuneteller