Brief Appearance of A Parliamentary Pillager,
Donnington le Heath, Leicestershire, 2005


A mist of steel thickens until:
a man's breastplate shines.
His musket sniffs snake-like.

Cromwell's tongue wriggles
in this form’s skull as light
from that day passes through.

Across one cheek a streak
of pig's blood; this anoints
his law-wrought face.

In his fading eye a chip
of lust rings its ache
through England’s centuries.

A mist of steel thins:
a man's breastplate corrodes.
His skull darkens like old silver.