Names Buried
Beneath the Ages

From land between two rivers
Where saints dwelt in monasteries,
Tigris boatmen were brought here
To navigate the hard end of empire.

On new frontier, between creek and Tyne
Rule of lawe, silver and standards came
And redemptive creed of Barates’ men
Now celebrated in altared state.

In time, only the wharves remained.
This laid out camp took on a new frame,
From grain store to herded stockhold
Of Deiran princes and God’s wine.

Crowned dune of Oswinus rex
Mirror to Bamburgh’s northern realm,
Around repurposed fort and beacon
So lighted caergoes venture this way.

While weary fyrd feast in timber hall
On once site of principia and civitas,
Monasteries grew on shores below
At Ecgfrith’s Port in Gywre.

When two hundred years had passed
Darkness descended from heathen lands,
Halfdan, feeder of ravens, razed the burgh
And Urfa fell from tongue and stone.

Yet more centuries marched here through
Till Leland came in search of Oswin’s Hill,
At Tinanmuthe he found the clue
And left the question burning still.

By Luan Hanratty