© 2007-2014 Clan Thompson
The Pipes
By Mark Alan Thompson, 2010
Dedicated to Clan Thom(p)son
The pipes
Stir my blood
Though I am still with eyes shut; heart races and stomach jitters
Calming and energizing
The pipes bring peace and sound war
From ancient landscapes of rock and green and oceans gray
The pipes call to me through time
Mists and darkness mysterious
The pipes take me to a place
Where I join countless ancestors I’ve never known
But I am a part of them
And they are a part of me
We are together when the pipes play
And the pipes sing of our strength
We commune at table
Eat our haggis and drink our whiskey
Praise our God and love our women
Moss and fog, sea spray and foam
Kilts and laughter and legends in lochs
Petitions met with a friendly ‘aye’
A land as rugged and hard as her children
The pipes take me to a place
Where I join countless ancestors I’ve never known
But I am a part of them
And they are a part of me
We are together when the pipes play
And the pipes sing of our strength
Ancient divides go deep but fail to separate love
White cliffs and hills of Argyle
Emerald Isles and crimson dragons
They are all one to me
Each is unique; each is beauty
One is not diminished by the others
Together they weave a fabric of plaid
Unique threads make a garment too strong to rent
The pipes take me to a place
Where I join countless ancestors I’ve never known
But I am a part of them
And they are a part of me
We are together when the pipes play
And the pipes sing of our strength
The time is but chapters
Pages that turn
What is all to us
Is only a paragraph in the infinite
From where we came and where we go
Is not ours to know
Only that we are here and we may choose
To live the life we were blessed to live
Or count the days and lament how few
The pipes will continue to sing
Their notes dancing on a Britannic breeze
And they will sing to my children’s children’s children
The pipes will take them to a place
Where descendants join us that we’ve never known
They will be part of us
And we will be part of them
We will be together when the pipes play
And the pipes will sing of our strength.