County Antrim, Tuesday, 14th June, 2022
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‘In the land of the blind
the one eyed man is king.’
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Clochan na bhFomharach, being, ‘Stones of the Fomorians’,
who were, according to ancient Irish tradition,
the early, if not original inhabitants of Ireland,
and whom, so the stories say, retreated to the coastal fringes
and islands of the north-west after their defeat by the Crafty Folk.
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‘They were large and would have looked like giants to our eyes.’
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Sixty million years ago,
slow cooling basalt, created one of Ireland’s
most famous areas of coastline…
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The honeycomb of crystals known as, ‘The Giant’s Causeway’.
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The causeway is formed by basalt columns packed together
whose tops make stepping stones
leading from the cliff-face
and disappearing under the sea.
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They reappear again,
as Fingal’s Cave, on the island of Staffa,
which is off the west coast of Scotland.
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It is tempting to regard ‘Fingal’ as late and a contraction of ‘Fin’s Gal’, that is, Fin’s Girl…
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Over the causeway as a whole
there are about forty-thousand
of these crystal pillars.
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Which if correct would also give us the name of Fin’s girlfriend…
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Most are hexagonal
but they can have anything
from four to eight sides.
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The tallest columns,
in, ‘The Giant’s Organ’,
are over forty-feet tall.
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The causeway itself is said
to have been built by
the legendary Irish hero,
and folkloric giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill,
(Fin Mac Cool or Fin Mac Coll) who used it
to visit his girlfriend over in Scotland.
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So, where be all the giants?
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For those with an eye to see…
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…The giants are everywhere!
France & Vincent 
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