QUEEN ELIZABETH II
21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022
♛

The Makar, Scotland’s national poet, has written these lines to commemorate the historic occasion of the passing of HM the Queen.
The last monarch to die in Scotland was James V in 1542, father of Mary Queen of Scots from whom Elizabeth was descended. The landscapes of Aberdeenshire were a haven and a home for Elizabeth who loved the music of pipes and fiddle, the ceilidhs, the moors and glens, the River Dee, and Lochnagar or Beinn Chìochan in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland. This beautiful poem was read by Fiona Ritchie on The Thistle & Shamrock®. RIP Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.

Lochnagar
by Kathleen Jamie

The alder boughs hang heavy,
Red weighs the rowan-trees
That line the well-loved path which climbs
To Lochnagar from Dee
And knows at last the open hill,
Those ancient wind-honed heights
Where deer stand shy and sky-lined,
Then vanish from living sight,

Where grief is ice, and history
Is distant roiling skies,
Where weather chases weather
Across the lands she strived
To serve, and served supremely well,
Till the call came from afar:
Back to the country kept in her heart,
the Dee, and Lochnagar.

The Makar has kindly given permission to non-profit media for republishing this poem.
“I hope the people who loved her can find words of comfort in this poem.” ~ Kathleen Jamie

Kathleen Jamie reads Lochnagar on the Scottish Poetry Library website.