IMPRESSIONS
1. ST. ALBAN`S CHURCHYARD
It is January,
St. Alban`s bells cry out.
A single shaft of light
cuts through the trees.
The snow lies thin.
In this thread-bare corner
names are carved in stone,
Armstrong, Duffy,
Ford and Young.
The north wind blows
and barren fields stretch out.
On this bleak winter`s day
a shadow`s cast
to Hartley and beyond.
(Beneath a broken beam
two shifts collide,
Hindmarch, Hodge and
Gallagher
entwined in death)
The light begins to fade.
A hooded crow descends,
black as coal,
death resurrects the past.
2. NEW HARTLEY
Crocuses grow
and Hartley hides its grief.
Traffic flows
where waggons hauled
and black dust filled the air.
The children play
where miners worked the seam.
(The Blyth & Tyne slips past.
Bewick, Brown
and Nicholson,
a shift too far.)
Death demanded change.
The pit has gone,
king coal dethroned,
laid quietly to rest.
The dappled light
and birdsong on the breeze.
A hint of spring
wanders across the fields.
Hartley thrives.
Geoff Holland
