Skye — The Flowers of the Forest
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Skye — The Flowers of the Forest
There’s a piper on the hill and the midges have him beat As they weave their web tatooes — He’ll stick it out, his feed moving gently, Moving through the flowers, The Flowers of the Forrest.
There’s a van come down the road, With meat and yellow butter, cigarettes And suckie sweets, that have rode out From Portree, through The Flowers of the Forest.
It stops where people wait,
Who have walked the bracken day,
Across the hills,
Across the music of the stones
And The flowers of the forest.
Chorus
Skye’s the place to be where the air comes off the sea
With mermaid lore the harpers’ strings once caught,
As they caught the shifting light through hill and glen,
And the light
Of the Flowers of the Forest.
I will go to climb those hills,
To the peak of Sgúrr nan Gillean
Where the gods once laid their heads,
Resting there, awhile, looking down
On the flowers of the forest.
There’s a ferry come from Mallaig;
To take your thoughts, goodbyes,
And all those blessings,
As you slip across the water to the mainland.
At Fort William you’ll sit down
And you’ll think about the Isle and its lore, And softly hear The piper’s measured breath Coming through the Flowers of the Forest. Through the Flowers — of the Forest. — Frank Callery. Friday May 19th 2016.