An update - the Stone at Sannick Bay

 Who would have thought that a follow up post about the most recent find at Sannick Bay would need to come with a trigger warning, but I think it should. The words inscribed are quite graphic with some violent imagery, so please take care if you proceed.

At the end of the most recent blog post I welcomed folk to come along the journey with me to try to interpret/translate/transcribe the words.

I had worked out several of them, and was surprised that this stone was engraved in English, which at least made it easier for me to pick out the occasional word.

So, I got an email from my blogging friend Liz Ackert who had done some googling. 

She had put these five words into a search: ashes, hopeful, recollect, confident and just. 

And from this search she arrived at these places:

Lines Written on the Eve of His Execution

Jame Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

So here is what I had thought I had found:

8 lines

1. Let

2. (Open) all my

3. 

4. (then place)         upon

5.                    my ashes (throw)

6. Lord since thou knows    here all these (alon)

7. I'm hopeful once             recollect

8. And confident           with          the just

And here is what I think I can now read on the stone:

8 lines

1. Let them bestow on every earth a limb

2. Open all my veins, that I may swim

3. To thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake

4. Then place my par boiled head upon a stake;

5.  Scatter my ashes throw them in the air

6. Lord since thou knows  where all these atoms (alon) are 

7. I'm hopeful once  thou recollects my dust 

8. And confident thou'll raise me with the just      

 So, pretty weird and pretty interesting.

In the end the discovery by Liz of these words has made me now wonder if all of the stones are different - do they each involve a different person's quote? This is clearly not a Pablo Neruda poem as we found on the first visit! The contrast between the two sets of words is intriguing; both I think are about death. One seems beautiful; one macabre.

So the mystery deepens, and the desire to return and discover more increases. That, however, will have to wait for another time as we have started slowly wending our way back to Oz...

With many, many thanks to Liz for her enquiring mind and expert googling!