Abbeys

Rose slipped behind one of the stout pillars and peeked across the broad expanse of the abbey. Despite the autumn sunlight, the stone was cold beneath her hands.

~ Fair Is the Rose

Gothic arches with broad peaks direct the eye heavenward. The classic design is repeated over and over in windows and doorways too numerous to count.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

Gravestones were scattered about, some grand and ornate, others plain and low to the ground and covered with moss and lichen.

~ Mine Is the Night

The ruins were left standing before God and man, roofless and abandoned, surrounded by gravestones long worn smooth by the elements.

~ Whence Came a Prince

After the Reformation, abbeys across Scotland were dismantled and the stones carted away by local farmers for building dykes, leaving much for our imaginations to fill in.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

At the end of the street loomed the red sandstone ruins of Dulce Cor—sweet heart, as the monks of old had named their abbey. Heaven served as its roof now, and sod its floor.

~ Fair Is the Rose

A slight clearing in the woods revealed their destination: the lofty remains of an abbey. Silent, beautiful, mysterious.

~ Mine Is the Night