{"id":4117,"date":"2011-11-06T12:52:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-06T12:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=4117"},"modified":"2017-11-06T23:40:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T23:40:05","slug":"once-there-dwelt-a-scotsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/once-there-dwelt-a-scotsman\/","title":{"rendered":"Once There Dwelt A Scotsman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/once-there-dwelt-a-scotsman\/cottage-door\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4118\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-4118\" src=\"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Cottage-Door.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"578\" height=\"440\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Story of isolation, death, and how a burglar was more Christian than the townsfolk&#8230;, the latest of the old poems restored to the website.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Once there lived a Scotsman<br \/>\nWhose years nobody knew<br \/>\nWho was seen by all in town<br \/>\nAnd known by very few.<br \/>\nFor men, for loners such as he<br \/>\nWere left that way&#8230; alone&#8230;<br \/>\nScorn and pity and indifference<br \/>\nBy the townspeople to him was shown.<\/p>\n<p>This Scotsman was nobody<br \/>\nNone knew from where he came<br \/>\nBar the obvious. from Scotland&#8230;<br \/>\nFew even knew his name.<br \/>\nAnd the children in the dusty streets<br \/>\nMaking song of him&#8230; the sang<br \/>\nFor he was also a simple sort<br \/>\nWho spoke in Scottish slang.<\/p>\n<p>And all unknowing of him went<br \/>\nAbout their business from day to day<br \/>\nNone spoke of him when he was not seen<br \/>\nBar the children when at play<br \/>\n&#8216;Where is Mad Jock, the Scotsman:<br \/>\nBy this way he has not walked,<br \/>\nSo we get to mock no more&#8217;<br \/>\nSo of him the children talked.<\/p>\n<p>Some months passed until one day<br \/>\nA burglar an open door spied<br \/>\nIt looked an easy job, he thought<br \/>\nAs an escape route he eyed.<br \/>\nBut upon entering the house<br \/>\nHe did not rob, but instead,<br \/>\nStopped to mouth a silent prayer<br \/>\nAs he found Mad Jock rotted and dead.<\/p>\n<p>And though long passed to the other side<br \/>\nGod to love him never ceased<br \/>\nTo pray for the passing of his mortal soul,<br \/>\nGod sent the burglar&#8230; not the priest.<br \/>\n&#8216;For God was with him at his end,<br \/>\nAs through his life&#8217; the church bells to ring began&#8230;<br \/>\nAs the cortege passed by the house&#8230;<br \/>\nWhere once there lived a Scotsman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Story of isolation, death, and how a burglar was more Christian than the townsfolk&#8230;, the latest of the old poems restored to the website. Once there lived a Scotsman Whose years nobody knew Who was seen by all in town And known by very few. For men, for loners such &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[155],"tags":[2354,3965,3968,3964,1969,3967,3966],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","tag-death","tag-isolation","tag-loner","tag-month-of-the-dead","tag-november","tag-outcast","tag-town-living","column","twocol"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-14p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1390,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/twelve-mourned-as-two-thousand-are-forgotten\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":0},"title":"Twelve Mourned as Two Thousand are Forgotten","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"12th January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic ~ Josef Stalin Millions marched - a world looked on in sympathy As is right and proper, for the Paris Twelve who were slain... 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You - you kept mum, you kept schtum... Such a foundation in society was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Current Affairs in Ireland&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Current Affairs in Ireland","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/current-affairs-in-ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tullamore in County Offaly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tullamore-in-County-Offaly.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tullamore-in-County-Offaly.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tullamore-in-County-Offaly.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tullamore-in-County-Offaly.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tullamore-in-County-Offaly.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/the-exodus\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":2},"title":"The Exodus","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"4th May 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Exodus - The Leaving I From fields we came where often blood was shed Of men from France, a land so far afield And England too, they the sword and bloodshed knew Few they who'd their position easy yield. From cold earth, stony, soft earth rush ridden Our people they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;North Longford&quot;","block_context":{"text":"North Longford","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/north-longford\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ballinamuck","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Ballinamuck-281x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1583,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/sun-does-shine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":3},"title":"Sun Does Shine","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"4th April 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Anthony Ray Hinton (58) speaking to the press on being asked how it felt to be free after being released from Death Row, which he was on for 30 years. Our broken hearts, our shattered dreams Built on ideals, ambition, not fact That cost us slee, worries and woes Of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Alabama\"","block_context":{"text":"Alabama","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/tag\/alabama\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anthony Ray Hinton - freed after 30 years on Death Row","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anthony-Ray-Hinton.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anthony-Ray-Hinton.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anthony-Ray-Hinton.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4696,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/six-minutes-until-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":4},"title":"Six Minutes Until Death","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"14th June 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Marching to their deaths they sang the music to \"Top of Cork Road\". Joe McKelvey had read in \"Gadfly\" that it took six minutes for a man to bleed to death when shot in the heart. Commenting, one said if they were shot they hoped it would not take that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Irish Civil War&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Irish Civil War","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/irish-civil-war\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Shot-in-Revenge-by-the-Irish-Free-State.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Shot-in-Revenge-by-the-Irish-Free-State.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Shot-in-Revenge-by-the-Irish-Free-State.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Shot-in-Revenge-by-the-Irish-Free-State.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2280,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/dead-children-no-longer-the-news-that-sells\/","url_meta":{"origin":4117,"position":5},"title":"Dead Children: No Longer the News that Sells","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"14th September 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I knew it would happen, borders would be closed, media would turn again on the refugees, and the dead boy on the beach forgotton. 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