Suicide by Fire in a Harrow Churchyard
This poem was written in response to a death reported in the
local papers two years ago when a local retired schoolteacher
committed suicide by fire in a churchyard in Harrow. The author
found the juxtaposition of the Church setting and violent suicide
deeply disturbing. The religious imagery in the poem was inspired
by the "Seeing Salvation" Exhibition on The Image of Christ in Art,
showing at that time in the National Gallery. The poem uses
archetypal material to draw together spiritual and psychological
perspectives.
You came to this place you knew,
This Hill,
Hallowed for a millennium,
To burn the torment of your soul
Upon our consciousness,
Your anger turned upon yourself in illness
To kill the thing you love.
You spread the ashes of your Agony
Upon our Garden,
And challenge us with what we might become:
Fire of the Spirit, fire of personal hell
Consuming passion or refinement.
The light of your life, extinguished, smoulders on.
We who have felt your pain
Now sense your Judgement.
Do we wake or sleep
Or turn away?
Or try
In some small way
To understand
And stir your dormant phoenix?
Supersonic Hedgehog
This poem was written on a theme provided by a local poetry
group of "The Game of Life". It alludes to the computer game "Sonic
the Hedgehog", which consists of leaps, climbs and chasms and with
many lives to be lost.
Player, played with, played upon -
One thing seems sure,
It isn’t always fair.
The cancer and the rains come
Come what will -
In spite of careful planning.
Certain only of Uncertainty -
Big Cosmos, little me,
Through leaps of faith
And chasms of despair -
I’m still aware
Of Inspiration calling:
"What’s to lose? Come on -
Enjoy the Game!"
© Cherrie Coghlan