Ghosts in the Tower

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

At 73, I have difficulty getting around London these days since a bad fall in 2011. As it happens, the accident occurred very near the Tower of London although I had not been visiting it that day. It later transpired that I had badly fractured my left ankle and would need to learn to walk again. At the time, several kind passers-by stopped to help and waited with me for an ambulance to arrive. I was in a lot of pain, ye I spite of everything, I experienced an uplifting sense of camaraderie not only with those kind strangers but also with what I can only describe as a sense of kindred spirit emanating from the Tower itself.

Call me fanciful if you like (who am I to argue?) but that same kindred spirit stayed with me throughout one of the worst years of my life which left me housebound for months and often despairing of ever being able to get out and about again. (I was, after all, 68 years old at the time.)

Now, I can walk again, if with some difficulty, with the aid of my trusty walking stick and mange wo get out and about pretty well, all things considered. Yes, I have good days and bad days, and on the latter, it is that same human spirit, positive even in adversity, that continues to see me through.

Now, today’s poem has been significantly revised since it first appeared on the blog several years ago.

Among ghosts at the Tower is said to be Anne Boleyn, beheaded in 1536 for treason against Henry VIII; her ghost supposedly haunts the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower, where she is buried, and has been said to walk around the White Tower carrying her head under her arm. Other reported ghosts include Henry VI, Lady Jane Grey, and the Princes in the Tower. In January 1816, a sentry on guard outside the Jewel House claimed to have witnessed an apparition of a bear advancing towards him, and reportedly died of fright a few days later.  There have been various nameless and formless apparitions reported more recently, by night staff at the Tower. 

GHOSTS IN THE TOWER

In the bowels of London’s tower,

beats the pulse of its history,

feisty ghosts reliving every hour

Though tempted, we do not cower

from a fear that's legendary

in the bowels of London’s tower,

Here, mortals high and low flower

like lotus, spoils of eternity,

feisty ghosts reliving every hour

Ambition, lights and dark of desire,

past-present-future of a city

in the bowels of London’s tower,

Where ravens fly and tourists gather,

a city (still) aspiring to glory

feisty ghosts reliving every hour

Pages in its history coming together

to engage with us (intimately)

in the bowels of London’s tower,

feisty ghosts reliving every hour

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010