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Codex

Eddie Gibbons

Friday, June 8th, 2018

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Mr. McGregor, our history teacher,
keeps a list of the codes that will unlock his future ―

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 1057 – Macbeth at Lumphanan –
are the digits that turn his burglar alarm on.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 1314 – Bannockburn.
Stirling v Sterling was a turning point
around which the cogs of his bike lock go whirling.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 1513 – The Battle of Flodden.
Despite their cannon the Scots fell down hard.
The date’s now the PIN for his Platinum Card.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 1692 – Glencoe.
The top-up-and-go of his Mobile lozenge
confirms that his past and his future is Orange.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 1746 – Culloden.
The Jacobite Rising at Culloden Moor
gives the code that opens his garage door.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 1882 – The Battle o’the Braes.
The Crofters Rebellion. The number now locks
Parental Controls on his Sky Plus Box.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Wembley, 1967.
McCalliog (9), Law (10), Lennox (11)
opened the gates to his football heaven.

Notes

For Bill Wilson, a Scottish friend of mine who inspired the poem because he actually does use historic Scottish battle dates for his PIN numbers etc. I had to explain to him what the final stanza was about, though.
This poem was first published in ‘Firth’ magazine, Dundee.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/codex/