Folly

It’s been a while since I’ve put a poem on here, so I thought I’d share this one.  You can also find it in the September issue of Pulsar poetry webzine, along with another one of mine.

Folly

This is the place.

The gentle mound beside the reservoir

the wall of ivy-eaten stone

that separates nothing from no one

the tower on which no soldier ever stood.

Once, there were dragons here;

with my plastic sword I stormed the castle

saving princesses from evil kings.

 

I was a fool to think

these walls would sing to me

the magic of that distant time.

There is no place for chivalry

among the condoms and the empty cans.

I trudge back from the silent stones

stubbing my toes

upon the bones of dragons.

 

The picture [(c) Kate Jewell 2008] shows the actual folly (at Knypersley Pool in Staffordshire, near Brown Edge where I lived as a child) which inspired this poem.