V  On the Levels

1  The Siege of Lyme


The town held as art
A presence put forward that
It is our own actions that must bind us
Build us swinging
Us elegantly down
Falling off the edge into the sea
The little town holds on
Where the steep roads throw you out at the waterside
Memorial museum and the icecream parlours
But here people did more than collect bones or false memories
They held on against death and surrounding power
Once briefly, then
Again (too easily)
And died