Ely

A poem from 1986

the sun is shining in my heart

one beat away

you sat

in a tea shop

it was raining in the streets

but eating date and walnut cake

and drinking assam tea

and speaking on religious matters

raised a few eyebrows

and we got stared at from an adjacent table

before the teashop were supermarket images

and daylight faded

stopped

and I cried in frustration to the wind

Ely Cathedral

fine old building

many a day’s worship she must have seen

but silence is still

upon the minds

of those suspicious followers of rules

who cannot bring themselves to Christ

descend this path to rise again

to free this museum of finely-crafted love

where people care

to shelter here

from the rain of Ely town

to bring these walls a-tumbling down