Giles Watson's poetry and prose
Uffington Churchyard
UFFINGTON CHURCHYARD
I’ll bear with death as a going to ground
A bunkering-down, an embracing of loam,
My skull in the yew’s root. Weeds on my mound
Are heralds bringing a prodigal home.
I’ll rise as an umbel: white lacy flower
And tubular stem with tapering root,
And under my stone I’ll gratefully cower,
Nourish the seed and furnish the shoot.
My coming home will be met by a host
Who’ll rise from their graves on the night of my death.
Grass be my spirit, and nightshade my ghost,
And only the wind shall remember my breath.
But cut down these weeds and my seed cannot grow;
My coffined old soul will have nowhere to go.
Notes: Inspired by a series of photos by Ian Bateman, taken, as this photo of my own was taken, when Uffington churchyard was in all its former glory. When I arrived in Uffington in 2006, the parish churchyard in summer and autumn was a glory to behold. Parts of the meadow between the gravestones had been allowed to grow unchecked throughout the year, and the stones themselves stood in a sea of umbels and seeding grasses. Since then, a new and stricter regime has converted the churchyard into a monotonous lawn, and only the yews and the ivy on the gravestones remain as a reminder that such places can be a haven for wildlife. Ironically, many churchyards in the city of Oxford are better wildlife-refuges than those in country villages. I should hate to be buried in a manicured churchyard where wildness was banished beyond the lych-gate, but the thought of being buried where wildflowers and trees are permitted to grow unchecked is one of the great consolations of mortality. Poem by Giles Watson, 2009.
Reading by Giles Watson, recorded 31st March, 2010.
Please do have a look at my illustrated reading of 'Churchyard Ghosts', which is a little too long to be uploaded on Flickr, but is available here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/404/parish-ghosts.html
Also, anyone interested in hearing how one of my Dafydd ap Gwilym paraphrases might sound, have a go at 'The Clock', here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/406/the-clock-y-clo...
... and 'The Seagull', here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/407/the-seagull.html
... and there's a paraphrase of a poem by Iolo Goch here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/405/a-satire-on-the...
Uffington Churchyard
UFFINGTON CHURCHYARD
I’ll bear with death as a going to ground
A bunkering-down, an embracing of loam,
My skull in the yew’s root. Weeds on my mound
Are heralds bringing a prodigal home.
I’ll rise as an umbel: white lacy flower
And tubular stem with tapering root,
And under my stone I’ll gratefully cower,
Nourish the seed and furnish the shoot.
My coming home will be met by a host
Who’ll rise from their graves on the night of my death.
Grass be my spirit, and nightshade my ghost,
And only the wind shall remember my breath.
But cut down these weeds and my seed cannot grow;
My coffined old soul will have nowhere to go.
Notes: Inspired by a series of photos by Ian Bateman, taken, as this photo of my own was taken, when Uffington churchyard was in all its former glory. When I arrived in Uffington in 2006, the parish churchyard in summer and autumn was a glory to behold. Parts of the meadow between the gravestones had been allowed to grow unchecked throughout the year, and the stones themselves stood in a sea of umbels and seeding grasses. Since then, a new and stricter regime has converted the churchyard into a monotonous lawn, and only the yews and the ivy on the gravestones remain as a reminder that such places can be a haven for wildlife. Ironically, many churchyards in the city of Oxford are better wildlife-refuges than those in country villages. I should hate to be buried in a manicured churchyard where wildness was banished beyond the lych-gate, but the thought of being buried where wildflowers and trees are permitted to grow unchecked is one of the great consolations of mortality. Poem by Giles Watson, 2009.
Reading by Giles Watson, recorded 31st March, 2010.
Please do have a look at my illustrated reading of 'Churchyard Ghosts', which is a little too long to be uploaded on Flickr, but is available here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/404/parish-ghosts.html
Also, anyone interested in hearing how one of my Dafydd ap Gwilym paraphrases might sound, have a go at 'The Clock', here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/406/the-clock-y-clo...
... and 'The Seagull', here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/407/the-seagull.html
... and there's a paraphrase of a poem by Iolo Goch here:
www.yourmic.com/videos/poetry-reading/405/a-satire-on-the...