Friday, October 31, 2014

In the shadow of the Shard


I didn’t know, did you, that
Shakespeare’s brother
(his name was Edmund) is
buried somewhere on the grounds
of Southwark Cathedral
not far from the Globe
where Julius and Romeo
both had bad days with knives.
No one’s sure where Edmund
actually is, a short curtain call
from the rail station and the Shard,
the newest skyline drama
playing the London landscape.
But Edmund is there, asleep,
perhaps dreaming of the light
breaking through the windows
above, the windows around,
occasionally falling near
the sculpture of his brother.

Photograph: Southwark Cathedral on the south bank of the Thames, with the Shard in the background. Edmund was buried there in 1607 when the church was known as St. Saviour’s. There has been a church on this spot since the 600s. 

2 comments:

Martha Jane Orlando said...

I never knew that Shakespeare even had a brother! Loved this poem, Glynn! Blessings!

Anonymous said...

that hunk of glass
resembles
the shape of spires