And the Stones Stand Silent

And the stones stand silent, their secrets they will not tell

Their silent screams echo from every hill and dell

Legend tells that it was here, in this place

On one of the darkest days of the human race

Rough men came and raped the soil

In a bloody rage, the land they did spoil

An act of violation and desecration

Beyond belief or comprehension

Farm and homestead set a light

Flame and fire burned day and night

Every crop in the fields and every beast

The Dogs of War had been released

Killing tree and every living thing

None escaped, be they pauper or king

No mercy shown nor ounce of pity

For the people of this accursed country

And innocent blood they did spill

In a frenzy of hatred, they did kill

Like beasts lead to the slaughter

Every man, woman, son and daughter

Hunger and Death stalked the land

A Reign of Terror at the Bastard’s hand

As if the very Demons of Hell had come forth

And so it became known, as the Harrowing of the North

Far in the distance a curlew cries 

A wailing lament, the soft breeze sighs

And the stones still weep

For the secrets they keep.

1. Denis Murphy 29 January 2020

*After the battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy became King of England. But the resistance did not stop with the death of the Anglo Saxon Harold.

In the north a coalition of Danes and Saxons continued to resist. 

In 1069 William ordered a wholesale slaughter of every man, woman and child together with their possessions and animals. A strategy designed to strike terror and cause famine. It came  to be known as the “Harrowing of the North.”.