Thursday 17 April 2014

UKIP and Cosmopolitanism



He, an Egyptian, an auxiliary;
She, secret- keeper for the Dobunni,
Had arranged to meet by the sacred oak,

Sheltered and hidden from keen Roman eyes
By dense, dark woods of smooth barked beech.
He, a skilled boatman from the River Nile,

And now, deserter from the garrison

At Kingsholm; beaten, whipped, lashed and abused

By officers for drunken amusement,
Found silent sympathy, trust and love

From this mute young woman at the wine shop;
She, like him, violated just for fun

And entertainment - forced to play the fool,
Was also a skilled, rehearsed dissembler,
For inside that apparently dumbstruck

Mind was mysterious Druidic lore,

Hidden safe within a tribal dreamscape.
She, beyond Roman suspicion and law,

Led him by the hand, as the red sun's rays

Sank behind the high shrine to Mercury;

She, night-navigator of marshland paths,

She, sure-footed through the night-rustling forest;

They, sheltered and sleeping through the daylight hours,
They, slipping unseen past messenger posts,

Up the eastern scarp, then down to the river.
He, Nile-native, expert boatman, stared west
Across the Severn to the Silures -
Their boat eased its way with gentle paddle

Across that broad swathe of dangerous water,
Until exhausted, they breathed freedom.

Three centuries later, loyal-subjects,
Their children’s lineage, dark-skinned Britons,
Were destined to fight for Rome and Glevum
Against Anglo-Saxon invading migrants,
Who steadily renamed the landscape.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent! I would like to write the story of both of them!

    ReplyDelete