04-03-2016, 07:53 PM
Danse Macabre
School picnic photo c 1965:
in the background, Chester cathedral risen
like a mountain of stone.
The boy with a book died last year from the love
of cigarettes, though the girl
smiling through her malachite eyes
(can you tell from the sepia tints?)
tried for years, disappearing from our lives,
sweet Miranda, flower of stone.
In the centre, three children strike dancing poses
hands interlocked, soundless laughter ringing,
as at their side, another prepares to dismember
a liquorice stick while enjoined in the singing
of ring-a-ring-o-roses
under the gargoyles' noses,
old song that old stones remember.
School picnic photo c 1965:
in the background, Chester cathedral risen
like a mountain of stone.
The boy with a book died last year from the love
of cigarettes, though the girl
smiling through her malachite eyes
(can you tell from the sepia tints?)
tried for years, disappearing from our lives,
sweet Miranda, flower of stone.
In the centre, three children strike dancing poses
hands interlocked, soundless laughter ringing,
as at their side, another prepares to dismember
a liquorice stick while enjoined in the singing
of ring-a-ring-o-roses
under the gargoyles' noses,
old song that old stones remember.
~ I think I just quoted myself - Achebe