Gravely read the stones

...... So I meet you at the cemetery gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
While Wilde is on mine

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people all those lives
Where are they now?
With the loves and hates
And passions just like mine
They were born
And then they lived and then they died
Seems so unfair
And I want to cry

We woke to the sound of gales, thunder, hail, lightening (of course it makes a sound), lashing rain ... but it did improve and in between wild downpours I've been hard at work in the garden.  A bit more wall clearing and a start on bed preparation ready for spuds and onions. I was accompanied by a little robin trilling away.

youoregon1 is doing a chilled kind of cemetery sunday challenge so I ventured out to Maulinward. This tiny ruined church and surrounding cemetery holds all kinds of treasures but this little stone is the jewel in the crown. I have blipped it before but it deserves blipping again. Usually described as a cross slab it has what looks like Ogham carved down the side (early Irish writing a bit like runes). The Archaeological Inventory describes the marks as knife sharpenings. A bit puzzling. Apparently this isn't its original position and it was moved here in the 1930s from nearby farmland. The little cross is a Celtic sun wheel representing the solar calendar, the movement of the sun marked by the solstices and equinoxes.  It's a pre Christian symbol but was adopted by the early Celtic church. I think it's pretty special.

A very happy St David's Day to all who celebrate it. I think Ireland is celebrating its own victory this afternoon :)

Cemetery Gates