'Oh Ill Thief'
Oh Ill Thief,
my Hangman my Hornie, the one I love and fear,
please take me fae here
I'll be yer snool once againe, dog-flesh and henbane,
Turn me back into willcat and wraith,
destroyer of faith
then no more will I rise into air so clear and so full of pain.
Oh Blacknebbit Bartie let's have a party
you know I'm your blastie
a' crookit and nasty
your couthy carline ye know what I mean,
ay, I'll let you scaith me
till the black baudlins chase me; so I pray
take me away from this bright land of toil.
Yes I'll pick your boils, and I'll eat your blypes,
I'll soak you in oil and turn out the lights -
but I'm cold and alone and sucked on by lice
and they've put me in darklins so silent, so small,
that I can't breathe, I can't scream, I can't speak, I can't call.
Sometimes it seems like I hear you,
your deep drumlie gumlie grunt.
It seems like I see you
dripping all down my front.
It feels like I feel you
in my itchy creeshie cunt,
As I wait for you to com and tak me to the hunt.
Oh Nickie-ben, I'm losing my grip
and startin to rip at the ends,
I dream of you and all of our friends, at Inshoch,
long after gloamin-shot, gigglin like giglets
and squealin like piglets
When we killed the wee things and cut them up into bits,
when I gave you my bairntime, my godsbody, my wits,
I gave you my tits
and somehow a' that has left me like this.
Oh you thief thief thief THIEF
Howl, howl foul winds and rain, and blasted deep!
Oh salt, oh shit and wounds that seep!
I'll take all your other girls with me to sleep,
and then in dark flames I'll be yours to keep.
© Rosie Dahlstrom 2016
'Isobel's Betrayal' (work in progress), oil on canvas, 1.2m x 1.7m, 2018
A multi-media project based on the confessions Isobel Gowdie and the witches of Auldearn, comprising works in collage, painting, film, voice, installation, from 2013 - present.
'Oh Ill Thief' collages and drawings, assorted sizes, 2013-16
Left: 'Megan as Isobel 1', oil on board, 30cm x 45cm, 2013.
Right: 'Megan as Isobel 2', oil on board, 30cm x 45cm, 2014
Detail from 'Fur Baby', acrylic and ink on paper, 45cm x 60cm, 2016
Left: 'The Execution of Isobel Gowdie', oil on board, 1m x 1.8m, 2014.
Right: 'Oh Ill Thief', oil on canvas, 80cm x 60cm, 2015
'Oh Ill Thief' for Confined Spaces installation, through cell spyhole
'Oh Ill Thief', film, 7 mins 30 seconds, filmed on location in Wester Ross, 2019