TALES OF THE SWAN-DYKE ~ 7 – TWO HAYSTACKS WITH CONVERGING LINES

MY 2ND PUBLICATION OF VERSE!

Tales of The Swan-Dyke

March – July, 2020 – CV-19

COVER - TALES OF SWANDYKE

TALES of the SWAN-DYKE ~ 7

 To celebrate the launch of my 2nd self-published booklet of 11 diverse poems and essays entitled : TALES of the SWAN-DYKE along with Illustrations and Authors Notes – I am happy to offer a signed, printed hard-copy for just £5 inc. post/packing for orders within the United Kingdom and £6.50 inc. shipping for orders outside the UK ! I wrote these poems and 1 essay during my COVID-19 isolation and over nearly 4 months

#NOTE ~ please email ME AT:-

stepheneede689@btinternet.com

Alternatively you can post a comment in the comments box at the foot of this page and I will forward details of how to make payment ~ PLEASE include your name and the address where you would like the printed copy to be sent + PLUS indicate if it is to be a gift.

Many thanks                                                                                        ~ edenbray

TO Celebrate this occasion I am re-posting all eleven parts – today I am re-posting part 7 : TWO HAYSTACKS WITH CONVERGING LINES..

Foreward to the Publication

In March 2020 at the recommendation of the British Governments Scientific Health Advisers I entered a period of isolation as a ‘shielding’ measure due to my previous and ongoing health issues and to avoid the threat of Covid-19, a dangerous strain of Coronavirus which attacks the respiratory system, especially of older and susceptible, clinically vulnerable persons. The full total of Covid-related deaths will not become clear for some while but it is already huge on a world-wide scale. This pamphlet of verse and writings came out of that period of isolation.

Most of the writings were composed from notes made during daily, long, walks I made in the fields at the rear of our home in Lincolnshire with either Ruth, my wife or on my own. These writings reflect wider concerns over the pandemic itself, national issues that developed during this period such as BLM but also very real and more personal matters concerning growing old, loneliness, our future – plus mental and physical health worries.

This selection from the poignant ‘This World So Sad’ to the more comedic ‘Predestination’ or ‘the dog’ may at times seem controversial, they contain ‘adult’ words but each of these works is important to me in conveying the true ‘feeling’ of the time and together they hopefully capture the full rainbow of human experience. I hope the reader will catch the humour intended as well as the more serious points of reference.

Thanks for listening                                                                                        edenbray 06.07.2020

Two Haystacks with Converging Lines

Giant Haystacks

O Albion, O Albion princess among the wolves

Your lithe ways betray your sensuous moves

O Albion, O Albion she lay down in the hay

Her dog-bitch must brought on by a brewers dray

I know I love thee, I love thee more than money

and in the morning we’ll go walking

out on the horizon

we are never coming back

That egg-blue horizon where lost telegraph wires

suffer the same morbid attenuation of a nation

grey lines disappearing

behind two flaxen stacks

It’s hard to believe until you shake the sieve

that all these lines will meet one day

inside the passions murmuration

where only grizzled monsters grieve

 

Converging and concentric lines

the 1,000th part at heavens gate

where even Romulus and Remus wait

Sanctus Paulus et Petrus there conclude

with pious Pope both their parallel fate

This tattooed Isle ~ this tortured Isle

conscience-worn and stricken

attitudes vile, uninformed, yet still uncertain

Where tolerance becomes a dirty word

and love the final treason

Please rush past my window

with your flutter and your pomp

Don’t bother knocking at my door

you will never find me in

Until you bow the knee,

and then confess your sin

Two haystacks stand in the corner of this field

huge obstacles that can be turned to fodder

Two giant haystacks in a field

One said to the other

You are my brother, did you know

We came from the same mother?

The sun had burnt one to black

thus proved it were an older stack

showed against the younger’s gold

that younger was not that old

Or wise, or thoughtful or caring

just spent its evenings staring

What is the weather forecast today ~ cloudy?

What is the forecast for today ~ sun?

What was the forecast for us today – run?

Have we now forgotten how to cry

or forgotten how to laugh?

The golden future of tomorrow

Have we forgotten how to love

or now forgotten how to give?

God opened a stained-blood window

I took an orange from the bowl today

peeled back its orange skin

I tasted fruit so sweet and driven

could not smell its culture’s sin

Farmer came to clear the stacks away

To open up the skyline panorama

Loaded they upon a cart in threes an’ twos

To preclude this allegorical dilemma

Not a hamstrung minister of indecision

Nor repentant priest, no sharp contrition

We nurse the absurdity of change without drama

compose a litany where waters run most deep

While only two things mean anything in this life

God, and your heart, where then should we start?

edenbray8today

ref.21062020

About edenbray

I am a writer ... a beat poet who began writing poetry way back in 1966 ... 'edenbray is born ugly, wet, covered in blood, mucous & bodily functions, the effluence of my short life' ... I recently published my 1st solo Anthology - the best of 60 years writing - previously I ran my own Art Supplies Store for 40 yrs before I became a full-time writer I am a Blogger who has posted 1,000 poems - available in 24 themed booklets ... please ask for details + leave a 'like' or a comment for my encouragement, thank you so much for listening - I truly value your opinion on my work ~ in fact I literally survive on your creative input ~ edenbray
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