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.