To Flee or not flee by John G.Hall

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To Flee or not flee

by John G.Hall

Posted: 26 October 2004
Word Count: 71
Summary: Is ducking enough?

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To Flee or not to flee

Reading Billy Blake
beneath spears of stars
in the forest of the night,
while bullet cases blow
down my smoking road,
a dead boy's house tied up
in yellow crime scene tape,
leaves me an undercover poet
on the run from unknown foes,
the murder weapon still warm
as my soul makes for Jerusalem.

John G.Hall(C)2004

*Last week there was a shooting on my street.

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Nell at 18:46 on 26 October 2004 Report this post

Ah John, I'm a sucker for poems with literary references - as long as I twig to them! 'Billy Blake' didn't register at first, I thought it must be a film - the name sounds so modern - but who could miss '...forest of the night...'? (Tyger! Tyger!) and then back to 'spear' ( 'Bring me my spear.' ) from Jerusalem. This is an unusual poem and one that stimulates much thought. Jerusalem used to be our school hymn, and I think that the message of your poem lies in those wonderful words. The idea of Jerusalem being builded here is perhaps as extraordinary a concept as a shooting close by to where we live, or perhaps the message is subtly different, suggesting that England's green and pleasant land is changing beyond recall. The answer to the question; 'And was Jerusalem builded here...' seems to be in the negative, hence the soul-dash for the real Jerusalem, although the situation there may be worse rather than better. Perhaps a metaphorical Jerusalem is what is needed. The image of the 'undercover poet/on the run from unknown foes/the murder weapon still warm...' is a powerful one, and also the dead boy, very quiet in this, surrounded by other things and easily overlooked until one reads again and the waste and desolation strikes home.

One little typo: ...a dead boys house... (boy's)

Nell.

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