Rab Wilson has just completed his time as first James Hogg Fellow in the Borders.
His residency bore fruit in poems, including this one, inspired by the marriage stone above a door lintel in Aikwood Tower.
The Mairriage Stane
(fir David an Judy Steel)
They howkit me oot the grund,
e'en tho ah resistit wi aa ma micht;
Stane isnae easy won.
An wi a wheen camshauchelt lumps
wis flung intil the wagon,
destined fir the dykes o Ettrick.
Some auld fellae taen the measuir o me
an noddit tae the cairter.
Syne twa o thaim heftit ma granin wecht,
an taen me tae the muckle touer.
Reuch haunds manhandled ma coarseness,
fore settin tae wi mell an chisel.
Ah wis lain doun bi a glacier
aeons ago,
an micht hae bade there by the burn,
else some hillside or field,
cursed fir brakkin a pleuchshare blade.
Syne chippin awa an warkin me wi drags,
the mason shaped an smuithed til he wis duin.
Nou here ah bide, abune the lintel,
'RS' an 'EM' Anno 1602,
ablow a craiscent mune;
the mairriage stane.
Time made me,
Man cairved me -
An luve pit me here.
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