Boys Beware
By the side of the loch some boys at play,
when into their midst there came
A beautiful white and riderless horse
with a long and flowing mane
A redheaded boy jumped up on its back,
a daring young sprite was he
And the other bold lads, as lads often do,
followed in his lee
The boys they ranged from the head to the tail,
and more clung to the side
And the pure white horse cantered along,
with the boys enjoying the ride
But one boy recalled an ancient tale,
and wished he had paid more heed,
How the slimy Kelpie could change its shape
and become a shining steed
Then the Kelpie, in this fine disguise,
would trot by the loch or mere
And the humans foolish enough to ride,
would be doomed to disappear
This unhappy boy had a grip on the tail
and he was running last
But when he tried to let it go,
he found his hand stuck fast
He twisted and turned, he tossed and thrashed,
but all to no avail
‘til he pulled out a knife, from the top of his boot,
and slashed the creature’s tail
And in that instant the Kelpie reared up,
and flew with brimstone and fire
Out over the loch and down in the deep
of the boggy marsh and mire
The boy left behind stood on the sand
and gazed where his friends been
And though the men searched for many a night,
they never again were seen
And the mothers came to sit by the loch,
to keen, to moan and cry
And in their grief they failed to see,
a pale horse trotting by.
Margaret Foster 29th August 2011
‘each uisge’ Gaelic—Water horse—Kelpie
mere—archaic, dialect. a lake or marsh.
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