Lewes, Landscape of Imagination
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:
or access direct at:
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.
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.
Labels: Anne of Cleves, castle, England, English, Henry V111, historic, history, Lewes, poetry, Sussex, town, Tudors
posted by R. N. Taber | 14:06
|
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