TALKING TO THE DEAD
she traces the ogham
with a tiny fingertip
dead stone
living lichen.
"And the man who made this is
. . .dead?"
"Ohhh long before the long long ago!"
"If I stretched my voice out into a shout...
. . .would he hear me?"
"No, love. . .
silence would
swallow your words."
"Even his ghost is
. . .dead?"
"Even his ghost is
. . .dead!"
I teach her her
name in Ogham.
She traces it with a stick
in the sand.
The long dead ghost
smiles at her efforts.
His voice stretches into a shout
that reaches my little girl's hand.
Her hand listens
to the invisible voice.
He teaches her.
She resurrects him.
Both of them living
in this one moment.
*
Ogham is an alphabet that appears on monumental inscriptions dating from the 4th to the 6th century AD, and in manuscripts dating from the 6th to the 9th century. It was used mainly to write Primitive and Old Irish, and also to write Old Welsh, Pictish and Latin. It was inscribed on stone monuments throughout Ireland, particuarly Kerry, Cork and Waterford, and in England, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales, particularly in Pembrokeshire in south Wales.
The name Ogham is pronounced [ˈoːm] or [ˈoːəm] in Modern Irish, and it was spelt ogam and pronounced [ˈɔɣam] in Old Irish. Its origins are uncertain: it might be named after the Irish god Ogma, or after the Irish phrase og-úaim (point-seam), which refers to the seam made by the point of a sharp weapon. Ogham is also known as or ogham craobh (tree ogham) beth luis fearn or beth luis nion, after the first few letters.
Ogham probably pre-dates the earliest inscriptions - some scholars believe it dates back to the 1st century AD - as the language used shows pre-4th century elements. It is thought to have been modelled on or inspired by the Roman, Greek or Runic scripts. It was designed to write Primitive Irish and was possibly intended as a secret form of communication.
While all surviving Ogham inscriptions are on stone, it was probably more commonly inscribed on sticks, stakes and trees. Inscriptions are mostly people's names and were probably used to mark ownership, territories and graves. Some inscriptions in primitive Irish and Pictish have not been deciphered, there are also a number of bilingual inscriptions in Ogham and Latin, and Ogham and Old Norse written with the Runic alphabet.
On a pilgrimage to Glendalough and we stopped off to have a pint at a pub in Hollywood, Wicklow where in that pub a burnished copper ogham was on the wall...this sparked the poem. With a poem ya just never know where y'are going and you just go along for the ride and memory does the rest along with a bit of wrestling with words...those pesky vairmants.