The Earl of Charleville’s Forest
The grounds of my local ascendancy castle,
a favoured haunt for joggers.
As I trot along the ancient path
lined by centenarian oaks and beeches
I imagine himself on his postprandial
walk accompanied by his loyal
beagle after a day’s labour
of administering the estate.
Look, there he is now, in a clearance
dressed in knee-length leather boots
and britches, listening to the birdsong
fall from the gnarled trees, careless of the world’s
woes and with a surprised look on his fat-
jowled face as he sees a ghost
dressed only in shorts and a luminous
NIKE vest race past toward the modern world
on the other side of the wrought iron gates.
John Saunders‘ first collection After the Accident was published in 2010 by Lapwing Press. His second full collection Chance was published in April 2013 by New Binary Press.