The Ruined ChurchA Poem by David Lewis PagetWhenever I ride in the countryside On the further side of the hill, I can see the new church steeple, rising Over the fields and rills, Then I venture down to the valley, on The Little Newhampton side, And see the wreck of the ancient church And remember the day it died.
Its blackened stone lies wide to the sky, Its rafters lie in the nave, If God was passing that fateful day He thought it too late to save, The lightning bolt that shattered his cross Went on to set it on fire, The lectern, pews, of Reverend Buse Conspired to burn on his pyre.
They found his skull, all covered in ash But the rest of him had gone, Had flown his soul with its blackened wings To a feast on the Eve of John, He was known to hold a Satanic Mass On the night of the Witches Moon, But the Bishop’s men were hard on his track And would have defrocked him soon.
His congregation was always sparse, For the good folk stayed away, They’d heard strange rumours of what went on With the Squire, and the Widow Hay, They locked themselves behind cedar doors And called on the god of wrath, With lighted candles, inverted cross, Laid out on the altar cloth.
The evening of the lightning strike The leadlight flickered and flashed, And screams rang out in the early hours As a black cat hurried past, For then the windows had glowed bright red To herald a presence there, While a deep, loud gutteral voice rang out To foul and corrupt the air.
‘Where are my churls and underlings, My troglodytes and my trolls? Tonight is the night of sundering Each evil heart from its soul!’ The Squire burst out, made a run for it And tried to leap on his horse, But the old black mare took him back in there, And somebody slammed the doors.
And that was when the lightning struck, It flashed, and shattered the cross, The blazing roof came tumbling down And the Widow Hay was lost. They never found the Squire or his horse, But I think that’s just as well, They’re probably roasting chestnuts, down In the seventh circle of Hell!
David Lewis Paget © 2014 David Lewis PagetFeatured Review
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