{"id":12007,"date":"2021-09-14T14:27:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T13:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12007"},"modified":"2021-11-02T21:23:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T20:23:08","slug":"3-poems-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12007","title":{"rendered":"3 Poems<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h3>\n

Sapphics for Elizabeth Lilburne<\/h3>\n

1649<\/em><\/p>\n

Where is he whose patience can suffer one more
\nsainted devil ministering independence?
\nDon\u2019t you think our interest equal? Tell us,
\ndid you imagine<\/p>\n

we would be so sottish or stupid as to
\nbide, cook, sew, mend, seeing our peace & welfare
\nbroken down, trod underfoot by one who rocks
\nnations as cradles,<\/p>\n

hooks & lands Leviathan but to swiftly
\nbridle it, demands that the blackbird freely
\nsing the tribute owed to a fenced-in meadow
\nonce held in common?<\/p>\n

We were not your trees by the river, quaking
\naspen, sere-leafed, fated to fall in season:
\nrighteous anger bested us. Earthly power
\nrules absolutely.<\/p>\n

Lone, aloof, all friends in the tower, unbraided
\ncords to implicate in good time, mute burdens
\nset to music by the succeeding children
\nEngland so prizes \u2014<\/p>\n

trusted stranger, hear what your broken language
\nmakes of us, our worldly accomplishment of
\nmartyred pride, our faith in the promised day when
\nhistory fails us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant<\/h3>\n

1662<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the ballad of a faithful servant
\n<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As loyal as he was true:
\n<\/em>His name it was George Downing and
\n<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s \u2018Sir George\u2019 to you\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

O the king sat on the Privy Council
\nDrinking the wine-red blood
\nAnd promising to forgive & forget
\nAs all good Christians should.<\/p>\n

But once he got behind closed doors
\nThe king soon changed his fettle:
\n\u2018I\u2019m not in the forgiving vein \u2014
\nI\u2019ve got Dad\u2019s score to settle!<\/p>\n

O where will I find a true-hearted man
\nTo track his regicides down
\nAnd trick \u2019em to trust us & face our good justice,
\nThose traitors to the crown?<\/p>\n

For as I suppose everyone knows
\nThey\u2019re in old Amsterdam,
\nAnd I look a right stately Johnny-come-lately
\nThe longer they\u2019re on the lam.\u2019<\/p>\n

Such was the jolly king\u2019s request
\n(I mean King Charles II)
\nSo George knelt down, suppressed a frown,
\nAnd just for a moment reckoned\u2026<\/p>\n

But our man didn\u2019t need to think
\nToo hard about this one
\nBefore bringing to mind where he\u2019d most likely find
\nTraitors on the run<\/p>\n

Because not three years prior to this
\nHe\u2019d played double with the Dutch
\nHunting out spies, though George fought shy
\nOf talking about it much<\/p>\n

For back in the day Cromwell had in his pay
\nNo servant so faithful & true
\nAs George Downing, Esquire \u2014 back then
\nHe wasn\u2019t \u2018Sir George\u2019 to you \u2014<\/p>\n

And he\u2019d won his fame & made his name
\nAs a good republican would
\nBy rounding up royalist<\/em> sympathisers
\nIn that same neck of the woods.<\/p>\n

So up George stands at the King\u2019s command
\nAnd takes his marching orders
\nTo ship \u2018em home o\u2019er the briny foam
\nTo be hung, drawn & quartered.<\/p>\n

And as it was written so it was done
\nAnd in return the state
\nRewarded Downing handsomely
\nWith some Westminster real estate.<\/p>\n

One street in particular
\nBore his name from age to age:
\nThus England commemorates
\nIts royalist heritage \u2014<\/p>\n

If not the man, his works; if not
\nThe names upon his list,
\nThen how kindly he served them all \u2014
\nI think you get the gist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Footnote<\/h3>\n

23-24 October 1642<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sir Adrian Scrope
\ndeserves the footnote
\nhe always gets:<\/p>\n

cut down at smokefall
\non the field at Edgehill,
\nfound & stripped<\/p>\n

according to custom,
\nthat night the frost
\nstanches his bleeding;<\/p>\n

at dawn he wakes
\nstarved with cold
\nin a mass of bodies \u2014<\/p>\n

nobles, tapsters \u2014
\nall of them naked,
\nno way to know<\/p>\n

who\u2019s who, which which,
\nso he pulls a corpse
\nor three about him<\/p>\n

as you might tug
\nyour blanket up
\nabout your ears,<\/p>\n

roll over cosy in
\nyour bed to face
\nthe wall night-night \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sapphics for Elizabeth Lilburne 1649 Where is he whose patience can suffer one more sainted devil ministering independence? Don\u2019t you think our interest equal? Tell us, did you imagine we would be so sottish or stupid as to bide, cook, sew, mend, seeing our peace & welfare broken down, trod underfoot by one who rocks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":368,"featured_media":12083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[401,405],"tags":[404],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12007\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12007&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Poems - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sapphics for Elizabeth Lilburne 1649 Where is he whose patience can suffer one more sainted devil ministering independence? 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