Poetry Buried: The Sand Silhouettes of Sutton Hoo by Hannah Faoileán

They bound our wrists and our ankles,
took our souls, our hearts then our hunger.
The little boy crumpled, lay crying
like a baby in his grave.

Be brave, I said, when it's over,
when their tethers all fray with decay,
we will dig our way out of this present,
reclaim all the days they have taken,
walk tall in the dreams of our making.

For we shall become
Sand Shadows.

Inspired by men, women and children executed 1 500 years ago. Dissolved by acidic soil, they exist now as dark-brown casts in the sand, their bones long gone.

 

[Emily]

Wow, Hannah! So evocative and sad. (BTW, where was this mass execution? Are they bog bodies?)

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Wow, Hannah! So evocative and sad. (BTW, where was this mass execution? Are they bog bodies?)

Check out https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/secrets-of-sutton-hoo.htm (13 Sep 2017)

They have a photo of one there. It's fascinating and very eerie! (I might use the idea in a story). They also give a bit of the history. It's the same place in England that's in the film "The Dig", but I don't know if the film mentions the nearby ancient burial site of over 200 graves (some with more than one body). It's not a bog, just highly acidic soil, so, unlike the Irish bogs, the bodies aren't preserved.

(My dad was a pathologist and once did a p.m. on a 400 year old Irish bog body!!)

Glad you liked my poem.

 

[Emily]

Oh, Thank you for that! Very, very eerie, but so fascinating at the same time

My dad was a pathologist and once did a p.m. on a 400 year old Irish bog body!!

WOW! Bogs are like a whole living, breathing alternate universe, weird but amazing. Apparently they were/are commonly used for body disposals... I don't think the disposal people quite realise the bodies get preserved rather an not...

Glad you liked my poem.

Very much so

 

[dave.crowther]

evocative Hannah. thanks for sharing