Standing Stone

Away in the distance a tall standing stone

In a field by the river, now silent and alone

What was it used for, this sacred space

What rituals and ceremonies in this gathering place

The people who used this, our ancestors of old

Warriors and heroes, the brave and the bold

Or were they like us, just ordinary folk

Who gathered together to drink and to smoke

With dreams and hopes and fears and plans

Or was it just a marker, a boundary between clans

Perhaps a place of justice, a market or fair

What wondrous things were exchanged here

New ideas and concepts, expanding the mind

From faraway places, goods of every kind

New medicine and herbs and miraculous cures

Trading old stories of warriors and heroes

Where bards and the poets were weaving their magic

With their tales of bravery and deeds so tragic

Strange gods, new religions and mystical priests.

Of bloody battles and fearsome beasts.

They are long gone and so too shall we

As we become the ancestors, just a distant memory

Of another time and another age

In the book of life just another page

We still live when our story ends

Alive in the memories of Family and friends

From another time another place

Another chapter of the human race.

c/ Denis Murphy 08 June 2016