UNDERTAKING REMEDIALS
I haven’t been here for a while, not since
I was a haughty teen and the priest said
we’d all go to hell no matter what path
we chose. What’s the point, I thought -
no matter what remedials I took, I was
headed for clouds of sulphurs
and an afterlife akin to a lit matchstick.
So anyway, as I was saying, or rather
writing since that’s what I’m doing,
I haven’t been here for a while, and I’m
not ashamed to say that I’ve rather missed
the old place. The smell of damp sandstone
that pinches at your nostrils, and those wooden
pews buffed to a miraculous shine, which
is what comes from 500-years of arses
swiping their way along its considerable
burnish length – slowly sliding in but
sliding out faster, fidgeting and squirming,
broad bums swish-swiping about and each
movement resurrecting a high gloss shine
on these leaf-carved planks of oak. Yes.
Much to my surprise, I’ve missed my
Sunday mornings at our old parish church.
Doubt that I’ll tell anyone that though;
might be a while ‘til I return again.
.
.
.
This is photo is (c) Misky, Reverie #40: Quantum Poetry – Strange Loops
http://namingconstellations.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/reverie-forty-strange-loop/
I like “wooden pews buffed to a miraculous shine.” Did you go back to take the picture?
I had taken the photo earlier in the summer, right before some ‘remedial’ work was done of the stone flooring.
I liked ” slow sliding in and sliding out faster.” Interesting how memories, even negative ones, call to us across our histories, isn’t it?
I suspect that there are a lot of memories caught up in that church. It’s ancient; the foundations date back to Norman occupation of this area.
I, too, like that miraculous shine. Interesting. All my churches were younger than I was. Kinda low in the mystery department. Yours makes me thing of one of my grandmother’s quilts after a lot of lye washing.
Close, Barbara, it’s white-washed using an old formulation of Sussex chalk. Thanks for leaving a comment.