A Poem for the Clan Cumming and the Scottish Society of the Louisiana Hielands

The summer is starting to fill up and already I’m making plans for a busy fall, scheduling schools and festivals as musician/singer and storyteller. Today, I have Scottish matters on my mind. At noon today, at the Picadilly at Mall St. Vincent in Shreveport, I’ll be speaking and signing books for the Scottish Society of the Louisiana Hielands. That society has some great people in it. You can find their excellent website and all sorts of Scottish information here: If you live in Northeast Louisiana or East Texas, you should visit them sometime.

I also did some more reading on the Clan Cumming and wrote them another poem. Here it is:

The Murder of John the Red Comyn at Greyfriar’s Church

Feb. 10,  1306

John the Red and Robert the Bruce
Met on a cold day in Dumfries
The victory at Roslyn forgotten,
Because of pride and jealousy.

Bruce forged a plan of murder,
Of betrayal fed by greed,
With his brothers he conspired,
To commit the bloody deed.

An argument broke out,
It doesn’t matter why,
The Red’s blood darkened the soil,
As his soul rose to the sky.

Comyn land was divided
Among Bruce’s chosen few,
The clan was forced to flee,
To a land foreign, strange, and new.

A leader died at the church that day,
And never would return,
The victors write the history,
As the Cumming clan would learn.