Two of us enter
on hands and knees
through close dark passage
to round chamber of stone
****
thin light filters from
circular hole above
where layered rocks
draw up and lean in
****
fingers stretch out
to touch each side
the green dampness
of ancient walls
****
four low small rooms
from the centre lead out
in cardinal directions,
we pray to each:
****
fire, air, earth, water
then sound begins
in my throat
with my breath
****
seeping out from the stones
up through my body
resonating vibrations
of some other voice
****
strong and deep
a masculine intonation of
powerful prayer from
old earth rituals
****
then, slowly, softly
female song rises
harmonic waves
possess this space
****
body and rock
mind and place
resound as one,
in the voice
****
time falls away
I return to myself
and the quiet
and the now
and you.
*****
Wendy Alford May 2019

Vinquoy photo credit: Wendy Alford
In their book ‘What The Architecture Tells Us’, Marianne Pollich and Elisabeth Holder have a chapter about Vinquoy. https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/20/what-the-architecture-tells-us/
Maybe Vinquoy will be included in the North Isles Landscape Partnership Schemes (NILPS) Neolithic Landscape of the Dead project ……https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/01/11/tombs-of-the-isles-community-archaeology-project-for-orkneys-north-isles/
And for more information, see the ever reliable Canmore …… https://canmore.org.uk/site/3183/eday-vinquoy-hill
By Bernie Bell
Categories: Uncategorized