Death of Cleopatra, after Carlo Cignani

DEATH OF CLEOPATRA, AFTER CARLO CIGNANI

(Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow)

The Death is the dying,
that short fleeting moment
between the living
and the dead,
which is a seeming eternity.

As the asp curls round your arm
you clasp your left hand under your breast,
you raise your right arm
in a final, feeble, royal command;
but as the asp draws the skin of your breast
between its teeth,
your eyes cry out in agony.

Even Queens have to die!

© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 1st September 1967

Publications

1968 Platform (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1994 Potpourri (USA)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)

The Peasant, after Van Gogh

(image courtesy of Olga's Gallery)
"THE PEASANT" AFTER VAN GOGH

Little changes in the country
Tillage of the earth
provides merely a scrap of living
But the face is of one resigned
to the receipt of scraps
Half-piercing eyes
can see beyond the superficial
But the hands are much
much too old and wrinkled
to stretch out
at certain rebuff
Years of setback
harvests ruined by too much rain
or too much sun
interspersed with bumper years
of fine harvests
good wine to drink
and hope for the future
have combined to form
this heavy brow
and old grey beard
wondering just how many warm summers
and how many winters
are yet to be endured
For little changes good or bad
in the country

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 10th August 1967

Publications

1968 Platform (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1987 POETS FOR AFRICA (Las Vegas, Family of God)
1993 Mobius (MI, USA)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)
1997 The Pink Cadillac Review (Internet)

00:10 Jan 1

00.10 HOURS JAN 1

Ten minutes ago it was last year
Now it's a New Year
So what ?
The clock strikes midnight
We take down the old calendar
But what is the point
of all this celebration ?
There is no difference
between this night
and any other cold, wintry night
A year has passed
but years pass all the time
not just at one specific moment
decreed, not by nature,
but by the men who devised the calendar
The passage of time
is not something that can be escaped
Time itself ceases to have meaning for me
but yet I write
with an urgency
suggesting that time is short

We all must change
for otherwise
time will change us
whether we like it or not

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st January 1967

Publications

1971 YORKSHIRE POETS '72 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 NASA (USA)