I have huge respect for Derek Robertson who has relentlessly researched WW1 from the particular perspective of Scots, Borderers and Hawick Men lost in the war. He is the author of the encyclopaedic Hawick and the Great War to be published in November 2018, 100 years from the armistice. Derek and I often speak about “The Golden Thread”. It is that gut feeling, that nagging thought that suddenly comes to you that leads you to something you have been searching for. A missing link, a soldier’s record, a chance remark, a clue, a revelation, we have both experienced startling instances of this, sometimes holding the same thread.
It’s like a reflection from the past, an echo, a voice, a hand reaching out to guide you. I know most folk will say they are coincidences, but all I can say to that is we have been very fortunate to have experienced so many coincidences.
This is one of those songs that just flowed out. In fact, the spark came to me as I walked from my car at Edinburgh airport on the way to a gig in Belfast. It was finished on the flight on the way over.
The golden thread is not simply in connection to war stories. Sometimes life provides its guides. If you take the time to reflect and your mind is calm and open; positive thoughts find their way in.
When you feel the glimmer of the Golden Thread, grasp it tightly and hang on.
You never know where it will lead you.
The Golden Thread © Alan G Brydon
There’s a golden thread that binds our souls and minds
And it winds around our hearts in space and time
When you can sense a guide
From beyond the dark divide
Someone’s on the other side
And you’re entwined
The golden Thread
Is holding us together
My mind was led
And now we’re bound forever
So many tears were shed
The links to life were broken
Now you’ve spoken
And spun the golden thread
When it feels like life has nothing left to say
Yet still unanswered questions block your way
When your vision’s overcast
Missing fragments of the past
Manifest themselves in unexpected ways
You don’t need ears to hear the thoughts behind
Nor eyes to see the spark You seek to find
But still a light can shine
When the golden thread unwinds
All it needs is love and open minds
When every twist and turn’s another question
Then suddenly the answer’s in a sign
Someone’s speaking clearly though is silence
The golden thread is calling down the line