Lewes, Landscape of Imagination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

This poem is the direct result of a visit to the historic Sussex town of Lewes. As always, my friend Graham Collett shot and edited the video and I wrote a poem to accompany it. I have posted the video/poem on my You Tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

or access direct at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6LfIGu7gd4

or see below

It was during the latter days of last summer that Graham  and I visited Lewes. We only had time to visit the castle and Anne of Cleves’ House, and we thought you might enjoy sharing the experience.

The town is the location of several significant historic buildings, including Lewes Castle and a sixteenth-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House because it was given to her as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII; although there is no historical evidence to show that she never lived there, she may well have visited from time to time.  

Both Anne of Cleves' House and the Castle are owned and maintained by the Sussex Archaeological Society.

LEWES, LANDSCAPE OF IMAGINATION

Looking for creative therapy?

Visit the landscape of imagination,

take a journey into history;

Lewes, spoils of Norman invasion,

Courtesy of William, Conqueror

to William de Warenne and spouse

on overcoming Saxon resistance,

a castle there to build on the Ouse,

dedicated to St Pancras,

in remembrance of a child martyr,

executed for his faith

Pass through the Barbican Gate,

get a feel for olde England surrounds;

a Motte and Bailey castle,

later fortified with stone, the better

to defend against invasion;

few richer spoils of time to be found,

firing the imagination,

filling inner eye and ear with sights 

and sounds of generations

ghosting a courtyard dominated

by all-seeing towers

Climb, climb, a winding stair

of stone, labour of love, chiselled

out of the history

of olde England, witness to battles

and executions,

as well as celebrations, successes

and failures of its tenants

over centuries of war and peace;

echoes of laughter and tears

haunting East Sussex surrounds

for a thousand years

Lewes, meeting its past head-on,

where Anne of Cleves, and entourage

loyal to a discarded queen

may well have sought out the peace

of Tudor England’s green

but troubled land, under a fickle king

so desperate for a son

he wed unwisely (six times, no less)

letting ego-led lust have its head,

while Anne kept hers, even acquired

a house in Lewes

Time, though, will wait for nothing

and no one, least of all a poem passing

through its eternal passages

of fame and fortune, secrets and lies,

honourable deaths, executions

history may well attempt to justify

and scholars make excuses

while poets love to visit time and again,

bring to the landscapes

of imagination, inner eye and ear,

open to whatever…

Day done, history’s curtain drawn

across the windows of minds anxious

to chew on history’s bones,

reach their own conclusions as to how

past into present excavations

of various ruins and other testaments

to history’s own, for better or worse,

invest ghosts the ilk of Anne of Cleves

and such tenants as its castle

once let live, love, make merry and die,

with a singular peace…

Lewes

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

Note: I had problems uploading the video to You Tube so you may need to watch it again if your first attempt resulted in any distorted images.