Clans, Ilks and Tartans

Clans, Ilks and Tartans Woven into threads of red and black, Girded by grids of white, Distant plaintive bagpipe memories Of sunset over Kilmaurs – A crest that bears a unicorn Touches royal roots As a poet’s tribute to a patron lost Watches neighbors Campbell and Montgomerie Then looks out on the seas from tidal lands Of Ayrshire in flings and reels with swirling kilts When explorer’s feet recall on new world shores The mew of seagulls soaring – Politicians, engineers and entrepreneurs - Over Fork Over – Cunningham, a clan of auld. Blocks of green and wine Stripped with blue Look back into the heather Covering highland hills of country dances Where spring wanders in hunting kilts Beneath clear cerulean heavens, Boldly enduring; A crest that bears a coronet Of storied noble and knight Whose melancholy legend Whispers in glens and gloaming Of standard bearers for a king Watched by Ogilvy and Stewart Lindsay, a clan of auld. Like sunlight bouncing off of autumn leaves In crimson, golden amber, umber greening hues - A sword dance of squares and lines in twirling kilts - Near the sparkling waters of Loch Lomond; Clan neighbor Graham and cousins MacCammon See the crest adorned by a coronet Prize of battle; The wind remembers Tiny windswept island Clarinch - A battle cry of Clar Innes - Campaigns of kings and exiled queens – Chieftain’s seat sees a president and prospector - Hence the brighter honor – Buchanan, a clan of auld. Cousins of the same ilk Bear the names of families - Of highland lands And lowland memories - Seaside and mountain territories - Kilts wearing colors interwoven patterns Born of clans with Tartans telling legends and the stone of destiny, Plaids dancing at the piper’s hand, Ancient names, though maybe hidden, still live – Cunnyngham, Lindsey and MacCammon Of Buchanan – In Celtic refrains like iridescent whispers Woven through clans of auld. This is the story of my Scottish heritage through the mottos, the tartans, the history and geographic references to the clan homes.