{"id":10731,"date":"2022-05-04T20:04:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T19:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuartpoetry.art\/?p=10731"},"modified":"2022-05-04T20:05:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T19:05:08","slug":"based-on-a-1924-poem-by-hazel-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/04\/based-on-a-1924-poem-by-hazel-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Based on a 1924 poem by Hazel Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sleep Charm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mistily my sleep comes down<\/p>\n

(What now of the brilliant sea)<\/p>\n

Mistily the silken brown<\/p>\n

Quiet darkness covers me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quietly my sleep draws near<\/p>\n

(What now of the winds long flight)<\/p>\n

Quietly it comes the solemn clear<\/p>\n

Nothingness of my night<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Muriel was sitting on the old settee in the garden watching the express trains thunder by<\/p>\n

That is such a sad poem<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you write it?<\/em><\/p>\n

No it was written over ninety years ago in 1924<\/em><\/p>\n

Jackie looked at the ragged settee and pushed her slim fingers into a gap between the arm and the headrest<\/p>\n

Really we must dispose of this settee it is most likely full of insects<\/em><\/p>\n

Possibly but for a few weeks every summer the sun dries it out and it is one of the great pleasures of my life to sit on it either reading or watching the express trains pass by<\/em><\/p>\n

Let us burn it when the autumn arrives<\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever for<\/em><\/p>\n

Just bring a blanket out like the rest of us you will get just as brown<\/em><\/p>\n

I not sit on it to achieve a tan<\/em><\/p>\n

I sit here so that I may contemplate life<\/em><\/p>\n

What was the name of the poet?<\/em><\/p>\n

Hazel Hall<\/em><\/p>\n

I have never heard of her<\/em><\/p>\n

Not many people have<\/em><\/p>\n

I had not heard of her before I purchased the book that I am now reading<\/em><\/p>\n

What is the book called?<\/em><\/p>\n

The Best Poems of 1924<\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever made you buy it you do not write poetry<\/em><\/p>\n

I do write poetry but I choose to keep it private<\/em><\/p>\n

May I look at it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps one day when I am more confident<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you write about?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Everything\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you write like Hazel Hall<\/em><\/p>\n

No but I would like to have possessed a fraction of her talent<\/em><\/p>\n

Did she write anything else<\/em><\/p>\n

Most likely but I am only aware of the poems which can be found in this book<\/em><\/p>\n

And this is where the haunting occurs<\/em><\/p>\n

Haunting<\/em><\/p>\n

Hazel died in 1924 and these poems are part of a larger number of poems which together are called Songs of Farewell<\/em><\/p>\n

So she knew that she was dying<\/em><\/p>\n

It appears so<\/em><\/p>\n

There is a note at the base of the page<\/em><\/p>\n

Read it to me<\/em><\/p>\n

Hazel Hall died during the May month preceding the publication of these verses\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that all<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes<\/em><\/p>\n

I wonder where she is now<\/em><\/p>\n

She is most likely watching us<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you believe there is anything else<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes<\/em><\/p>\n

So you think there is a lot more to life than two girls sitting on a threadbare settee near a railway life discussing the poems of a woman who passed away over ninety years ago<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes I do believe in a God and an afterlife<\/em><\/p>\n

I once had a friend at school who drowned whilst on holiday<\/em><\/p>\n

We were quite close as you and I are good friends today<\/em><\/p>\n

Here name was Sally<\/em><\/p>\n

I missed her terribly at the time but the years have softened my sadness<\/em><\/p>\n

However I still have a photograph of her<\/em><\/p>\n

It was one of those silly teenage photographs taken on a day out<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We were on a pier and were taking a selfie cheek to cheek with stupid grins on our faces<\/em><\/p>\n

Two years later Sally died<\/em><\/p>\n

I often look at that photograph and look at her eyes and wonder what mysteries she has witnessed of which I have no idea about<\/em><\/p>\n

Is she comfortable in the afterlife<\/em><\/p>\n

Has she met God and Jesus<\/em><\/p>\n

I do not think that you meet God or even Jesus<\/em><\/p>\n

You feel their presence<\/em><\/p>\n

We were cheek to cheek in that photograph<\/em><\/p>\n

Physically touching on an ordinary day on an ordinary pier<\/em><\/p>\n

But now she is so distant from me<\/em><\/p>\n

I cannot touch her anymore<\/em><\/p>\n

Those are my thoughts when I look at the photograph<\/em><\/p>\n

I have retained her likeness but nothing else<\/em><\/p>\n

And as I have said I wonder what those eyes have witnessed\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What does she know that I cannot begin to think about<\/em><\/p>\n

Muriel touched Jackie\u2019s wrist lightly and they both watched as an express train sped by at high speed<\/p>\n

I often wonder if there are trains in Heaven too<\/em><\/p>\n

So you have faith but are confused<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes I suppose that you can put it that way<\/em><\/p>\n

I never question my faith I feel it<\/em><\/p>\n

I sense it<\/em><\/p>\n

Even though the world constantly disappoints me it also is quite exhilarating<\/em><\/p>\n

I am on a constant high<\/em><\/p>\n

Small things very small things guide me<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you mean?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well you know that I told you that I found the poem in the vintage book I purchased<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes<\/em><\/p>\n

I was not going to go into the book shop as I found that it was rather expensive but I was wearing a light summer dress yesterday and as you are aware it rained at times and I did not want to get wet<\/em><\/p>\n

Warm Summer Rain<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps but I did not want to walk through the town looking like a girl who has fallen into a puddle<\/em><\/p>\n

I had been in the shop for about five minutes when I took the opportunity to look out of the window<\/em><\/p>\n

The rain was thinning but I decided to give it time<\/em><\/p>\n

And then I knocked a book off of the shelf with my bag<\/em><\/p>\n

It fell to the floor and opened on the page of Hazel\u2019s poems<\/em><\/p>\n

Out of curiosity I read her work and immediately purchased the book<\/em><\/p>\n

How much was the book?<\/em><\/p>\n

A fiver<\/em><\/p>\n

Ouch<\/em><\/p>\n

It was only when I was on the train home that I noticed that I had not only purchased a book but also a postcard which had been hidden between its pages<\/em><\/p>\n

I had not noticed it at first<\/em><\/p>\n

The postcard was from Portugal<\/em><\/p>\n

It was from Fatima<\/em><\/p>\n

Fatima<\/em><\/p>\n

You know where the three children witnessed the visit of the Virgin Mary in 1917\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I have heard of it<\/em><\/p>\n

Rather like Lourdes<\/em><\/p>\n

In its way yes<\/em><\/p>\n

Well without sounding too happy-clappy this was an indication at least to me of things happening behind the scenes<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever thought of coincidence<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes I always consider the mathematics of chance but I felt like I was destined to read Hazel\u2019s final poems<\/em><\/p>\n

They are in my view a little bleak but also full of hope<\/em><\/p>\n

As I came into the station I saw you spread out on this settee so full of life<\/em><\/p>\n

Enjoying the summer sun<\/em><\/p>\n

It did not rain here<\/em><\/p>\n

I sat in the sun for most of the afternoon<\/em><\/p>\n

But I could see your clouds in the distance<\/em><\/p>\n

Poor you lucky me<\/em><\/p>\n

Or poor me and lucky you<\/em><\/p>\n

Enough of this chat let us go inside and refresh ourselves\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

One can discuss the future and the past but one must not forget the present<\/em><\/p>\n

The vintage book of poems was left on the settee as the friends returned to the house<\/p>\n

There was no breeze and its pages remained still in the hot sun<\/p>\n

That was until a tiny ladybird landed on the book<\/p>\n

It settled for a while until it was startled by the violence of a passing train and flew away<\/p>\n

But the pages of the book were not affected by the disturbance of summer air<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2018<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleep Charm Mistily my sleep comes down (What now of the brilliant sea) Mistily the silken brown Quiet darkness covers me   Quietly my sleep draws near (What now of the winds long flight) Quietly it comes the solemn clear Nothingness of my night   Muriel was sitting on the old settee in the garden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10733,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10731\/revisions\/10733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}