Elegy Written In Tarbolton Churchyard
Did you ever take a turn round our churchyard green and fair?
If you’re observant you’ll see some beauty rich and rare,
At the steps a weeping ash, some rhodies and yew trees,
You’ll be impressed by the great beeches as they rustle in the breeze.
To the left a new gravestone – a replacement – you’ll see.
To a man who paid with his life for the right to be free.
It’s here William Shillilau, a Covenanter is laid.
We must never forget the great sacrifice he made.
Just beside there’s a story which brings great sadness to me,
It’s the story of three young men drowned in the cruel sea.
A Tarbolton teacher, his brother-in-law and a friend.
It was at Lamlash on Arran they met their tragic end.
The folk from the big houses to rest in peace are laid
Enterkine, Failford and Montgomerie was where these people stayed.
From granite and from sandstone the mason has deftly hewn
Memorials for them and others though some are couped and strewn.
You’ll see many names on headstones be they short or tall
You’ll see Andrew Tannock, miller in Clune o’er by the scout hall wall
You’ll see some names you do not hear round these parts any more.
The families Strathdee and Cassells in those days were to the fore.
For many young men of the parish their tragic fate was sealed
Remembered here on headstones but buried in foreign field.
They fought and died for country facing bullet, shell and bomb
They laid down their lives at Passchendaele and the bloody Somme.
One aspect of the headstones that is fascinating to me,
Are the little epitaphs that you can read on bended knee.
Some are simple, some are holy, some are short, some are long.
Some are from the Bible, some from famous hymn or song.
Familiar words are used by some “Nearer my God to thee”
And “In God’s house for evermore thy dwelling place shall be”.
Here and there a flower, some plants or a tiny garden neat.
“Gone but not forgotten, “Sadly missed” or “Till we meet”.
We could just imagine sons and daughters in their sorrow weeping
“Father in thy gracious keeping, leave we now thy servant sleeping”.
Or those who left behind with their thoughts of the hereafter pray
The words of hope “Till the day breaks and the shadows flee away”.
As you walk around to the vestry door the Ritchie graves you’ll see.
These were the three Ritchie ministers, you can see their family tree
They ministered in Tarbolton for nigh a hundred year.
Their inscriptions and their epitaphs still well defined and clear.
“At the evening-time it shall be light” for John was chiselled out.
“I am the resurrection and the life” -- William had no doubt.
For fifty-three years the Reverend David preached the Holy Word.
I wonder did he choose “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord”
There’s Dr. Patrick Wodrow who was minister in Burns’s time.
Read his inscription for yourself, it’s very long and doesnae rhyme.
You’ll see his memorial, by the vestry wall it’s home.
He was “Auld Wodrow” in the “The Twa Herds”, Rabbie’s famous poem.
“For our loss we must not weep, for our loved one long to keep
From the home of rest and peace, where all sin and sorrow cease”.
Some are flowery, most have familiar words that we all know,
Like that lovely hymn which starts “O love that wilt not let me go”.
Before you end your little tour, you certainly must pause.
At my favourite hidden by the flowers in their vase.
It will tug at your heartstrings, a little tear you might spill.
“O for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still”.
Harold McKeever
2008
