When and If
you write about Lyonesse
write in silver ink on scarlet parchment
describe lions and sea-gardens
but never mention
the life of Christ
His all-seeing eyes are blind to Lyonesse
If and when
you draw a map of our metropolis
include every sundial and boulevard
paint the circling city walls bright
as a marriage belt woven of ten colour-silks
two more than the rainbow for Lethowsow
When and if
you record the day the Fool of Leonnoyes
heard a golden Lion roar a warning
every hour on the hour
Fool who watched the city slip under the wave
but never said a word
tell that to the credulous world
straight from the water-horse’s gob
Penelope Shuttle
Inscribed on a Stela found on the seabed
down here
no one cares
if you’re honest or a liar
rich or poor
the only virtue here
is how much
you’ve forgotten
of that blood-boltered world
above the shiver
and pound
of the waves
you must forget everything
says Lyonesse
everything but
down
here
Penelope Shuttle
Penelope Shuttle lives in Cornwall, and is President of the Falmouth Poetry Group. She has published many collections of poems, most recently Lzrd: Poems from The Lizard Peninsula (with Alyson Hallett) November 2018, IDP, and Will You Walk a Little Faster? Bloodaxe, May 2017. Forthcoming: Lyonesse, from Bloodaxe, Spring 2021.
http://www.penelopeshuttle.co.uk
Tweeting as @penelopeshuttle
Photo credit @yamispap at http://www.unsplash.com
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