☛ We are inviting submission in the field of literature and literary theory in the form of article, book review, poem, short story, travelogue and interview for our regular April issue (Vol. 6, No. 2). The last date for submission is 31 March, 2025.

APOCALYPSE AT SWAFFHAM

 


APOCALYPSE AT SWAFFHAM

(Church of St. Peter and St Paul)

-        Seán Street (U.K.)

 

‘An oak hammer beam roof with 88 angels

carved in the mid-14th century, of chestnut wood.

Norfolk Guidebook

 

Upin the rafters –shadowed, earthbound, airborne

Above baptism, brides and the dead –watch keepers,

their wings pulsing on the edge of perception

over the short struggle toward dissolution.

 

Below come unbidden thoughts of mythical flight,

Mortals dreaming rustling, stirring, creaking trees,

strange birds murmuring in the timber machine,

impatiently waiting for revelation.

 

Ignition.  Something has set the engine running.

Most whispers can be drowned by a psalm, but not these.

Through the graveyard, Pentecostal winds beat on stones

with the force of seven invisible trumpets.

 

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