~ Midnight on All Hallows Eve~

The story has often been told

of a daring horse-jockey having sold

to a venerable man of ancient face

a bewitched black horse

To be purchased at an appointed place

when the hour of midnight was high

paying in ancient coin when he arrived

The trader in horses was asked

by his customer

to view his residence last

There is an ancient legend

that an army of sleeping warriors await

in a cave in Eildom Hills they lay in state

until the day when all Gaeldom shall rise

against its oppressors and turn the tide

The trader followed his guide down halls

through long ranges of stalls

in each of which a horse stood motionless

while an armed warrior lay equally still

at the charger’s feet

“All these men” whispered the wizard

will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmuir

The means of dissolving the spell

a sword and a horn

that hangs on the wall by the well

He grabbed the horn and blew the call

awakening the sleeping warriors one and all

                 “Woe to the coward that ever he was born

that did not draw the sword before he

blew the horn”

© Carole Mathys

October 2007