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THE RED LADY OF PAVILAND

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Originally thought to be a prostitute from a nearby Roman encampment, the skeleton turned out to be 30,000 years old and a man.  It had been laid out ritualistically alongside the skeleton of a mammoth and dyed with red ochre. The suppostion is that a hunting party killed the mammoth but lost one of their own in the process.

 

Lay me in this sacred cavern

By the softly surfing sea

Let that dank and distant whisper

Ease in me this fatal fire.

Tell the Beast I bear no malice

She and I are of one flesh

Mine to gorge the gulls and shore crabs

Hers to feed my bretheren.

Can you hear the Old Folk calling?

From the shadows of the cave?

In the surf that swells the sea-shore?

In the crying of the terns?

Twinned forever prey and hunter;

I slew her as she slayed me;

Lay the Beastbones here beside me,

That our spirits may be one.

◄ TO BE A VOLUNTEER

DIED IN VAIN ►

Comments

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John Coopey

Tue 16th Feb 2021 20:00

Thanks, Stephen. Not at all my usual bag but I’ve always had an interest in history. I came across the story of the Lady in Neil Oliver’s excellent “History of Ancient Britain”.
And thanks for the Like, Holden,

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Stephen Gospage

Tue 16th Feb 2021 17:16

Yes, a haunting piece, John.

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John Coopey

Mon 15th Feb 2021 23:33

Thanks, Ray and to Greg, Branwell, Stephen and Aviva for the Likes.

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raypool

Mon 15th Feb 2021 21:44

A strangely affecting piece John. I can hear the drone of pipes maybe on a reading of it. Like an elegy.

Ray

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