Mary Symon the Duff-town war poet.

Gie me a hill wi’ the heather on’t,
An’ a reid sun drappin’ doon,
Or the mists o’ the mornin’ risin’ saft
Wi’ the reek owre a wee grey toon.
Gie me a howe by the lang Glen road,
For it’s there ‘mang the whin and fern
(D’ye mind on’t, Will? Are ye hearin’, Dod?)
That we’re biggin’ the Soldiers’ Cairn.

The poignant words of `wee` Mary Symon, Scotland’s all but forgotten Great War poet.

Born in 1863 in the village of Dufftown, Speyside, Mary, the daughter of a local provost and landowner, was actively encouraged from an early age to express her creativity and from what can be deciphered from the sketchy records we have is that her first poetic attempts were good, albeit a little sentimental.

Mary’s early work was included in the Scots Magazine, and she contributed to a collection of poetry by Scotland’s very own Hugh MacDiarmid. However, it was after her University Education at St Andrews that she discovered her talent for commenting on one of history’s most important events – The First World War.

She had a great affection for rural tight knit Scottish communities and she was a keen observer as to the lore and customs of these sleepy towns and villages. She appreciated the local brogue and using this rich and passionate vernacular highlighted how life in rural Scotland was changed dramatically by the spectre of war.  

Through her poetry Mary, emphasised the pain and the heartbreak endured by those left behind, the mothers, wives and daughters who stood firm on the home front while their loved ones were, `far awa (in) Flanders land,` fighting a common foe.

Deeply affected by the news emerging from the front and aware of the sorrow and uncertainty which was engulfing local communities, Mary began expressing her sentiments on paper. In February 1916 she launched a scathing attack on the futility of war in the poignantly brilliant, The Glen’s Muster Roll.  Written from the point of view of a retired schoolmaster, he recalls that, `it’s jist like yesterday they sat there raw on raw,` (rows of former male pupils). The poem goes on express how these young men go off to fight in a terrible, ruthless war and return (if they do return at all) , `hell scarred,` and broken.

Of course the regiment of choice for any young man dwelling in the North East of Scotland was the legendary Gordon Highlanders. The 4^th battalion were one of the first British regiments to cross no man’s land near Mametz on the 1^{st of} July 1916, which would go down in history as the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It was to this proud Scottish regiment that she dedicated much of her work.

By the time the Somme was underway Scotland’s mothers, wives and daughters understood that this was going to be a long and bloody conflict. Mary responded to this with `The Soldier’s Cairn, ` an exploration not of what occurred on the field but of the anguish and hurt taking place back home. The villages and towns of Scotland are left shattered by events, leaving only hand erected Cairns as a reminder of their fallen.

Lads in your plaidies lyin’ still
In lands we’ll never see,
This lanely cairn on a hameland hill
Is a’ that oor love can dee;
An’ fine an’ braw we’ll mak’ it a’,
But oh, my Bairn, my Bairn,
It’s a cradle’s croon that’II aye blaw doon
    To me fae the Soldiers’ Cairn.

Mary’s first collection of poems Devron Days was published in 1933. It sold out within a week. In this, the centenary year of the Great War what could be a finer tribute to this inspirational woman than a rejuvenation of her work?  Mary Symon died in her home village of Dufftown on 27^th May 1938.