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AND NOW, THE RE-LAUNCH…

Thank you for your patience while this site has been (mainly) offline! This week we’ll be opening up the pages again, bit by bit, with a slightly better design on some of them, a number of new features and extra content, and a re-vamp of some older stuff too. I’ll be adding a little more each day with the aim of being fully back in business by the weekend.

Anthea’s chemotherapy treatment starts on the 20th, after which it’s uncharted territory for us, but at least I’ll have to be home a lot and that gives me the chance to develop lots of exciting stuff here (well, it gets me excited, anyway) in a way that I couldn’t if I was doing lots of travelling around. One feature of the new-look site will be a weekly blog, just to keep you updated about what’s currently happening with us. It’s good to be back!

 

Image credits: Bookshelves: Alfons Morales on Unsplash.com; Street scene: Image by Ch AFleks  from Pixabay.com; icons made by Freepik from Flaticon.com

JA masque

Meanwhile...

This being Easter, here’s one of my favourite poems for you – written by Scotland’s greatest poet (no, not you, Rabbie, sorry about that). William Dunbar came from my side of Scotland (the East coast) so I may be a little biased, but this is one of the best Easter poems ever. Just in case your medieval Scots is a bit rusty, I’ve supplied the meaning of some of the words on the way through. The Latin line at the end of each verse says, “The Lord has risen from the grave!”

Done is a battle on the dragon black,
Our champion Christ confoundit has his force;
The yetis [gates] of hell are broken with a crack,
The sign triumphal raisit is of the cross,
The devillis trymmillis [tremble] with hiddous voce [hideous voice],
The saulis are borrowit [redeemed] and to the bliss can go,
Christ with his bloud our ransonis [ransom] dois indoce [endorse]:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
 
Dungan [defeated] is the deidly dragon Lucifer,
The cruewall serpent with the mortal stang [sting];
The auld kene [bold] tiger, with his teith on char [ajar],
Whilk in a wait has lyen for us so lang,
Thinking to grip us in his clawis strang;
The merciful Lord wald nocht that it were so,
He made him for to failye [fall short] of that fang [prize].
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
 
He for our saik that sufferit to be slane,
And lyk a lamb in sacrifice was dicht [treated],
Is lyk a lion risen up agane,
And as a gyane [giant] raxit [raised] him on hicht;
Sprungen is Aurora radious [radiant] and bricht,
On loft [Aloft] is gone the glorious Apollo,
The blissful day departit fro the nicht:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
 
The grit victour again is rissen on hicht,
That for our querrell [law case] to the deth was woundit;
The sun that wox [grew] all pale now shynis bricht,
And, derkness clearit, our faith is now refoundit;
The knell of mercy fra the heaven is soundit,
The Christin are deliverit of their wo,
The Jowis [Jews] and their errour are confoundit:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
 
The fo is chasit, the battle is done ceis [ceased],
The presone broken, the jevellouris fleit and flemit [put to flight];
The weir [war] is gon, confermit is the peis [peace],
The fetteris lowsit [unlocked] and the dungeon temit [emptied],
The ransoun made, the prisoneris redeemit;
The field is won, owrecomen is the fo,
Dispuilit [despoiled] of the treasure that he yemit [seized]:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.

Christ is risen - he is risen indeed!