Centuries Apart ~ One Conversation
The Escarpment to the Cotswolds overlooking Cheltenham ~ known, locally, as Cleeve Cloud
This is the striding pinnacle of the Escarpment to the Cotswolds of England that gives way to the Severn Vale, the Vale of Tewkebury and the Vale of Evesham, as one sees in the distance, in the opposite direction, Leckhampton Hill, that buttress behind which the lands roll steeply beyond into Southern Gloucestershire and on to Somersetshire, with Warwickshire to its left. KTW
I
Do tell me, pray,
why you do walk this lane this day?
You talk with me?
Or are you talking merely to thin air?
No, I speak with you,
as you stand clearly in my way!
What? You’ve had too much Ale
and it’s not even Noon!
Look around you then.
What things beyond do we agree to see?
Hey! Step aside.
You’re drunk.
Allow me to continue along my way.
I’ve things to do,
and I bore quickly with you
re-enactment bods!
(wide-eyed wonderment)
But how can I, in God’s Name?
Surely, you abandon not both man and horse?
What do you speak?
What horse?
Are you mad?
Do you play?
Go on. Get away!
Now!!
Please! Do not jest!
See, the skyline! Help me to move her …
What skyline you fool?
Move who?
There are children up there playing the fool
Do you not see?
Is the battle raging still beyond your vision?
For God’s sake, mate
You’ve lost the plot
Get away with you!
It’s only eleven and already you’re
as pissed as a fart!
In an instant, centuries apart
two souls envisioned the skyline
one with children playing
the same skyline
the other, insurrection, death,
A very civil war
on the escarpment beyond Cleeve Hill
Look, she is gone!
We rode full haste at gallop from Worcester
She has breathed her last
I have this message for Sudeley
Can you help me?
You on drugs?
You civil war re-enactment twats
just lose the plot …
What by Jove
dost thou Speak?
Re-enactment?
Plot?
Mate?
Do you jest my good wife, you scoundrel?
Men have died this day
And more will die
by tomorrow’s noonday
in Winchcomb
And what, pray, is the
peculiar garb you wear?
If I did not think it foolish
and witches’ stuff
I’d think you were from another age!
II
Look! May be this might help.
My card.
What?
Your Calling card?
Why is Winchcomb wrongly spelled?
What is this vowel ‘e’ added?
What, this peculiar print?
And what is this Portcullis
beneath a Crown?
We Parliamentarians
have routed the royalists!
And these letters
E.R
If I did not take you to be a fool
I’ d say the R dost symbolise Regin’
III
Along pause
Two ages each eyeing the other
each pondering, wondering
Modernity assumes an uneasy calm
You are right my friend
I will not explain
Suffice to say
Elizabeth Regina
Yes, the Parliamentarians
hold the day
But in your lifetime
count twelve years on
and you will see The Lord Protector
seen on his way
The Commons shall remain
We are betwixt times
You go that way
I will go this way
Tell no one of this conversation
But observe to your life’s end
history in the making
and you will indeed perceive
a glimpse of times
that sit aside each other
Sudeley will fall
I am not at liberty to
be what your times call
fortune-telling and witchcraft
I am sorry about your Destrier
Good day, sir
The Roundhead soldier
watched aghast
speechless
At Life’s end
Upon his bed …
a glimpse of another age
At Life’s end
upon his bed, too,
a glimpse of a former age
Hello my good friend
A gentle smile
Young now
Goodness!
Is it time?
Aye, Ken, it is
Your Destrier?
Aye, the Mare’s grand
She’s waiting
We’ll ride out together
cross Gallops
down into Winchomb
Really?
Winchcombe?
Oh that would be marvellous
I was a bit short with you that day
Haha!
How were you to know?
Have no fear
They’re all waiting
Family, Friends, Dogs galore …
and, yes, best of all,
your Destrier
La Roche
Come now
Take my hand
Relax
To Winchcomb and Winchcombe
we will ride
Self riding La Roche (affectionately called Rokka) on the Escarpment to the Cotswolds, Cleeve Hill above Cheltenham in 1973 ...Aggs Hill before heading to the Gallops KTW
Kenneth Thomas Webb
Liverpool
October 24, 2021
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© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021
One of the Fifteen Founding Members of Leaders Lodge
Composed February 26, 2020
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
