At the back of the crowd at the last public hanging
Watched the poor wretches that choked as they swung
The cart with the bodies the banging and clanging
Tyburn the place where the poor bastards hung
A marsh and a mile from the World's greatest city
Trippers and fun fair to see justice done
Two hundred years and the site is now pretty
The rich and the lucky sit having their fun
By the side of a lane I stand looking and learning
Watching the changes that people have wrought
Once there were horses and peasantry yearning
Now the best cars that new money has bought
In the Hotel behind me celebrities chatter
Nothing to say but they just never stop
In a penthouse a diplomat who ought to matter
But he misses the news when the footballers flop
Hyde Park and the Serpentine, people and pleasure
Park Lane filled with traffic that's rushing and mad
And all of the time I've been called London's treasure
A tree in a city makes everyone glad
A contest entry
- Tree in the City ~ biographical or descriptive # 86 Winklings and Friends by Lyndon.
5000 points, ended June 12, 2008, 13 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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Pleased to meet you, cricketjeff! I enjoyed this as it dredged up some 30 plus year old memories of my visit to london.
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Wonderfully written, and a grand story! Enjoyed this write immensely!
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Readers: Note ~ the persona is the tree!
I feel that you have done a sensible thing in allowing the tree its voice.
For those who need to know, it is a large semi-mature 'London Plane', planted around the time of the opening of the well-known, cream Dorchester Hotel. It has a beautiful form and shape and is dramatic when lit up at night, I believe. It is a landmark in London's West End and a tree "to give directions by".
I wonder if city 'fathers' give such memorable older trees the protective national trust care buildings nearby have?
A fine, doubly alternately rhymed ballad written in tetrameters and rich in history but also, through voice, it gives value to the tree, in itself.
Thank you for the pleasure.
Will.
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Top notch write this-a pleasure to read mon capitain!
xxx
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A good piece of London's history and something that I didn't know, but then I'm not a Londoner and no way could I ever afford to stay at the Dorchester
All the best...Sue xx
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This tells a wonderful story and I found the flow rapid and well metered. Bravo!
Love,
Amera
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I don't know how I missed this contest (except I don't go in for contests any more) or this stonking poem. You wrote out-of-your-skin. A unique "persona poem" about a tree. Well done.
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Awrait Mary! What is stonking? And be sure to chk out my to pums about trees! I visited London soo many years ago and was amazed how the plane trees seem to grow right out of the pavement.
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Stonking translates to "Jolly Good" in the English of P G Wodehouse ore "Wicked" in Hollywood's version of American street slang.
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Oh you'll have to ask Jeff what "stonking" is. It's one of his words!
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