List of the Contents of Nicholas Hagger’s poetic works, short stories and other literary works

Collected Poems List of poems in Contents

Preface to Collected Poems xliii Preface on the New Baroque Consciousness and the Redefinition of Poetry as Classical xlv Baroque Introductory Note by the Poet lxxvii

1. A Well of Truth 1958–1963 Dear Sir 1 A Dream So Vague 1 Why So Dejected? 1 Lines Written in the Depths of Despair 2 Epitaph 2 I Knew a Boy 2 Medusa 2 On Being Accused of Emotional Materialism, i.e. Of Knowing What He Wants 3 The Oath 3 A Life’s Theme in an Image (A Fragment of a Destroyed Poem) 3 The Double 3 Stallion 4 At the Grave’s Edge (A Fragment) 4 Angels 5 On Revisiting the Greek Islands 6 Elegy on a Neglected Graveyard in Sciathos 6 Chopped-Up Pentameters 6 Blind 7 I Will Call On My Love Again 7 Young and Old 7 The House of Unreason 8 Two Songs from The Molten Owl’s Song 8 The Persistent Woman 8 Ode to a Prospect from a Window Frame 9 Nudity of Heavens and Man 9 Externals 10 Two Men Hanged 10 Beauty 11 The Lone Sailsman in Exile 11 Stratford 11 Lament of the Farrash 11 The New Man 11 Faces of the Ages 12 Sunday Morning 12 Chiaroscuro 13 Sun-Light 13 Earthquake 13 Notes 13

2. A Stone Torch-Basket 1963–1965 The Expatriate (A Dramatic Monologue set in Japan) 14 I. Wheel 14 II. Mirror 15 III. Cinders 15 IV. Dawn 16 The Seventeenth Century Pilgrim 16 Binsey Green 17 And Scholars Will Ask 17 Odi Et Amo 17 The Nomad 17 The Priest Refuses Death 18 Twilight (First Version) 18 Twilight (Second Version) 18 The Oceanographer at Night 19 Postscript to Bruegel in Tokyo: Dream and Reality 19 Winter in Nara (An Investigation of the Relation between Culture and Death, Civilisation 20 and Eternity) Christ of the Sea-Spray 21 Song of Three Thames-Daughters 22 Notes 22

3. The Early Education and Making of a Mystic 1965–1966 The Early Education and Making of a Mystic 24 1. Folkestone 24 2. Holy Grey 24 3. 3Cricket Captain 25 4. New Year’s Eve Dance 25 5. History like the Rushing Dee 26 6. Corps Camp 26 7. Murder in the Dark 27 8. Leaving School 27 9. Etna 27 10. Office Love 28 11. The London Hell 28 12. A Destiny 29 13. The Underground Dead 29 14. An Awakening in London 29 15. Crimes and Virtues 30 16. The Power by the Lake 31 17. The Cricket Club Dance 31 18. A Tearful Surrender 32 19. Hitch-Hiking back from Greece 32 20. A Twirled Stem 33 21. Drugtaking 33 22. A Coffined Counterpane 34 23. A Grubby Soul 34 24. An Amateur Fortune-Teller 35 25. Bookstealing 35 26. Private Eye 36 27. An Isaiah Infected 36 28. Smallpox Alley, Baghdad 36 29. A Priest at the Ambassador’s 37 30. Dover Sole and a Whistle 37 31. Three Closenesses 38 32. Quarrel with a Friend 38 33. A Death 39 34. The Splitting of the Dark at the Strawberry Hill Pond 39 35. Demiurge among the Bikinis 40 36. Advice to a Student 40 37. An American Professor 40 38. Paradise Valley 41 39. A Garden Temple 41 40. Satori 42 41 Andrizesthe 43 42.A Vast Palace and a Chiming Clock 43 Notes 44

4. The Silence 1965–1966 The Silence 45 I. Dying: Shadow 45 II. In the Underworld: Moon on the Northern Dead 51 III. Rising: Reflection on the Clouded Ground 65 Notes 79

5. The Wings and the Sword 1966–1969 Archangel 87 Blighty 94 An Inner Home 97 The Conductor (Or: At The Royal Albert Hall) 98 Two Moral Letters after Horace 99 An Epistle to an Admirer of Oliver Cromwell (Advice to a Young Revolutionary going into 99 Politics) Epistle to His Imperial Highness, on His Birthday 102 A Well-Glazed Jar (A Fragment) 104 A Heresy 105 A Shrub and Smiling Leaders 105 The Rubbish Dump at Nobe, Japan (An Investigation of Nature and History, Pattern and 106 Meaning) Haikus 107 Tankas 107 Sakura-Ba 107 A Chambermaid Lies on the Beach in a White Mini and Laments 107 An Incense Cone Burns in a Storm 108 Blood in the Eye 108 Night: Cathedral and Tower 108 I Have Seen 108 High over Calcutta: A Castle in Spain 109 Steamed Up 109 A Poet Reads the Fire 109 The Greenfly and the Money Spiders 110 Storm and Fire 110 Johnson McViters 110 A Small Boy looks ahead during his Summer Holidays 110 Nonsense Rhymes for Children 111 Barbary Shores (The Exile) 112 Notes 113

6. Old Man in a Circle 1967 Old Man in a Circle 116 I. Uncleanness after the Sunset 116 II. Purging under the Moon 121 III. Dawn over Mount Brocken 125 Savonarola (A Fragment) 128 Notes 128

7. The Gates of Hell 1969–1972 Orpheus Across the Frontier 131 Providence Which Takes 131 A Banged Door and a Strong Gin-Punch 132 Well, Dried Grasses, Dead Butterfly 132 Lump like a Cannon-Stone 132 Two Damnations 133 Sparkling Pavements and Red Rose-Hips 133 Hopeless 133 A Nothingness 134 The Death of Ought 134 Feast: Skull on a Beach 134 Marquess 135 Geisha 135 Muffin Man 135 Gates of Hell 136 Au Revoir 136 A Wheeled-Away Staircase 136 The Good-Bye 136 Wrecked 137 Despair like Bellbind 137 A Small Girl’s Curfew 137 A Drowning in Anguish 138 Cairo 138 Way of Loss 138 Ghadames Spring (Poems like Bubbles) 138 Eurydice Lost: Expectation and a Tear 139 The Fall 139 The Spectre 139 Like a Fruit Machine 140 Danger 140 A Death of Sorts 140 On the Waterfront 140 The Escape 141 Kingdom of Windows 141 Oran: Hell Remembered Again 141 Despair 142 Rain and Sun: A Being like a Snowstorm 142 Faces in Smoke 142 Chamber in Hell 143 Throne 143 Me 143 Thinking Cold 144 Sailor 144 The Wind 144 Orpheus-Philoctetes at High Beach 144 Three, two, one. Aging: An Autumn Leaf and Holly 145 The Overcoat 145 The Wreck 145 Leaking 146 The Hour of Butterflies 146 Dictator 146 Full-Time Lovers 146 The Sacrifice 147 Journey’s End 147 October Sea; Abyss 147 Room like a Merry-Go-Round 148 To Think! 148 My Hell 148 Love like Willow 149 My Shopwindow 149 Weathervane and Wind 149 Christmas: Feathers and a White Bedspread 149 January 150 Knot 150 Frost on the Tongue 151 Traitors’ Gate 151 Orpheus-Prometheus in the Blackweir Region of Hell 151 Lost Calm 151 Summer Fatigue 152 Disentangled 152 Heart 152 Flow: Moon and Sea 152 Visions: Golden Flower, Celestial Curtain 153 More Visions: The Judge 153 Visions: The Pit and the Moon 153 Visions: Shield of God 154 Flowers in the Soul 154 Orpheus: Holy Fool 154 Fever: Fire and Mercury 154 December 4th 155 An Amputated Limb 155 February Budding, Half Term 155 A Stolen Hour 156 March: Crocuses 156 Hell, March 156 Miniature Rose 156 Law of the Seed 157 A Glacier in the Heart 157 The Void and the Snowdrop 157 Pure Water of Eternity 157 Self-Planting Corn, Graveyard Hawthorn 158 Bruised Plum 158 Time and Eternity (First Version) 158 Visions: Raid on the Gold Mine 159 The Furnace 159 Vision: Snatched by God, a Blue Light 159 Vision: Love like a Grid 159 Rose, Golden 160 Red Rose and Potato-Peeler 160 Ivy and Rainbow 160 Tattershall 161 The Meaning of Life 161 Obida (Hurt) 161 Under a Muslin Net 161 Guy Fawkes Night 162 Shooting 162 Hope and Fear 162 Next Morning: Sunrise and Smoked Glass 163 Tagetes like Shopgirls 163 Possibilities: Dead Leaves and Oak 164 A Bathroom Mirror and a Shadow 164 Will like a Mountain Peak 164 Mirroring: An Ache like a Ripple 164 Birthday like a Gong 165 Starless Caves and Starlit Beach 165 Nature like Meccano 165 Standard: Christmas 166 Gagged 166 Face 166 Blackheath Fog 167 Eyes That See Through The Dark 167 A Tongue at Low Tide 167 Fire like an Adder’s Tongue 168 Jealous Oath 168 A Woman like Thunder 168 Pleasantries like Crowbars 169 The Wind that is Wild 169 Dreams like Haggard Faces 170 Three 170 A Past like Shaving Lather 170 The Rainbow in the Water Shower 171 Wheat Germ 171 A Pond like a Well 171 Delilah of the Sidewalks 171 Justice like a Clown’s Kiss 172 Success 172 Life like Lilac 172 The Midas Touch 173 Mephistopheles 173 Sea-Wails 173 Masks 174 Sunbathing 174 Fountain 174 Thistles 175 Angles 175 The Pearl 175 The Code 176

Six Songs to be Set to Music: Breaking 176 Kentish Girl (A Ballad) 177 Song: I Can’t Count The Red Sun 177 Time To End It All 178 Song: The Orange Lady 178 Black Chestnut 178 Notes 179

8. The Flight 1970 The Flight 181 I. A Green Country 181 II. Chamber in Hell 183 III. Waves on the Shingle 186 IV. Gull over a Clay Pyramid 187 Notes 190

9. A Bulb in Winter 1972–1974 Carnations 191 Fragment 191 Carving Knife 191 On the Death, caused by the Israeli Bombing of Damascus, of a Norwegian UN 192 Observer, his Wife and Child Scar 192 Sand 193 Nets 193 Sweet and Sour (On Memnos) 193 Your Brother 194 A Tree that is Wild 194 Snowman 194 Doctor 194 Heavy in Heart (Leaves Falling) 195 Bulbs 195 The Singer 196 The Sun (Remembrance Day) 196 When I Am Old 197 Violets 197 Time 197 Years like Ashes 198 Cold Men, A Cold Sky 198 Taoists 199 I Am Risen 199 Society: The Spring in my Being 199 Providence 199 Toad-Like 200 Time like a Well-Shut Album 200 Key 200 You Who 201 Certificate 201 Séance for a Dead Woman 201 The Heart of a Violet 202 See-Saw 202 Ode: Spring 202 A Buried Heart 202 Jigsaw 203 Clean 203 The Yellowhammer 203 Treasure Trove 204 Yew 204 Integrated Studies 204 Knight 204 The Waterfall Stopped and Cried 205 Copper Fountain 205 Golden City 205 Eternity Ring 206 Night: Silence and Sea (A Second Honeymoon) 206 At Battle: Violent Event, Serene Nature 206 Caves 206 At Bognor 207 Closed 207 Shrivelled 207 Silent Pool 208 Chased 208 Breakwater 208 Trap 208 Trunks 209 Fire and Waterfall 209 Common Entrance 209 Ode to Solzhenitsyn 209 Back and Forth (A Budget of Flowers) (First Version) 210 Back and Forth (A Budget of Flowers) (Second Version) 210 Bird on the Spring 210 Half Way Through 211 Urn 211 A Bitter Pill 211 Painting 212 My Bird 212 Ice 212 Walking Stick 213 Gift like a Flutter 213 The Graveyard 213 A Pear 213 Peace 214 Goldfish 214 Arundel 214 Pain 215 A Chill like Smoke 215 A Feeling like an Acorn 215 Water Music 215 Migrations 216 Rhododendron 216 The Undefeated 216 Notes 216

10. The Pilgrim in the Garden 1973–1974 In Marvell’s Garden, at Nun Appleton 220 Westminster Abbey 221 At Stoke D’Abernon 222 Tattershall Castle 223 Worcester College and Port Meadow Revisited 224 Royal Victoria Hotel, St. Leonard’s 225 Dunford House 226 Stanhope Gardens 227 Century House: On a Patriot (Or: On the Unfortunate Necessity of Governments 228 High Beach Church 229 Sompting Abbotts 230 Chester Court, Sussex Square 231 Journey’s End (13th Elegy) 232 Strawberry Hill 232 Porthleven 233 Brompton Oratory 234 Hill Place 235 The Royal Observatory, Greenwich 237 Loughton Methodist Church 238 Chigwell School 239 Queen Charlotte’s Hospital 242 Our Lady of Victories 244 Brechin Place 245 Notes 246

11. The Night Sea-Crossing 1974 Blind Churchill to the Night 249 The Night-Sea Crossing (A Symphonic Poem in Sonata Form) 250 Notes 259

12. Visions Near the Gates of Paradise 1974–1975 Remembrance Day 260 A Trunk and a Heart Attack 260 St. Lucies Day 260 The Swing 261 The Pyramid 261 Lantern 261 Houses like Talents 261 The Lock 262 Stinging the Beehive 262 A Klaeber Among Women 262 Power like an Overcoat 263 Fencing: Two Selves 263 Naughting 263 Baby 263 Swingalongamax 264 City of Destruction 264 The Way Opens 264 The Blind 265 Generations 265 Recurrence 265 A Sheikh in his Harem 265 Southwark Cathedral 266 God 266 Electricity 266 Backward Images 267 Seed 267 Cherry Blossom 267 Sunday 268 Man and Nature: Renewal 268 Providence like a Pentagram 268 Black Shoes, Blue Socks 269 Care 269 Robbery 269 C Sharp, F Sharp 269 The Valentine 270 Evil like Hurdles 270 If 270 The Summons 271 Life 271 Paradise 271 Victoria Station 272 The Ruin 272 Headstone of the Temple 273 Springcleaning 273 The Now 273 Poems like Vases 273 Pilgrims’ Pavement (In Canterbury Cathedral) 274 A Waking 274 A Boiling Sea 274 The Keep (On an Anniversary) 275 Seed of God 275 Sacrifice 275 The Purpose of Life 276 De-Frosting 276 At-One-Ment 276 The Call 276 The Way Really Opens (To an M.P.) 277 Church like a Tree 277 The Wind that Bloweth 277 The Spiral Whirl 278 Women like the Wind 278 A Kyrielle at Easter 278 A Sixty-Four Thousand Pound Ruin 279 The Windmill 279 The Newly Dead 279 Sculptors 279 Forgiveness like a Gardener 280 Light like the Ocean 280 Perhaps like a Butterfly 280 Swallowtail by the Stream 281 Hostages from the Bridge 281 A Joyful Sob 281 Circuit 281 Apples on an Invisible Tree 282 Splinters in the Flesh 282 A Vision Near the Gates of Paradise 282 Notes 283

13. The Four Seasons 1975 The Four Seasons 284 Summer 286 Autumn 290 Winter 294 Spring 299 Notes 306

14. Lighthouse 1975 Lighthouse 307 I. Storm Wind and Lamp Fire 308 II. Waves over the Watch-Tower 310 III. The Breaking of the Cloud 313 Notes 314

15. The Weed Garden 1975 The Weed Garden 315 1. The Soul in Autumn 316 2. How the Summer Ended 319 3. A Thought for Winter 322 4. Lily for a Distant Spring 325 Notes 330

16. The Labyrinth 1976 The Labyrinth 331 Notes 335

17. Whispers from the West 1976–1979 A Quarter Past Four 336 The Moon (On our Second Anniversary) 336 Nets in Drizzle 336 Fall Out 337 At Roche Chapel 337 Lightning over Polruan 337 Lady of Garian 338 Trenarren 338 Arthur’s Innocence 338 The Broken Marriage-Picture 339 The Shell 339 Worldly Power 339 To a Serviceman on Frontier Duty in Germany, A Reply 340 Sindy 340 My Flat Little Mouse 340 Evil like Wind-Blown Leaves 341 A Tidal Wave and Migrating Swallows 341 Angels near a Fairground Hell 341 Love like a Length of Cloth 342 Lament of the Cast-Off Shirt 342 Like a Tin of Fly Spray 342 A Shadow and a Butterfly 343 Girls like Crocuses 343 A Broken Curtain-Rail and the Light 343 A Crash and Candlelight 344 A Boo-oom and an Undeaf Ear 344 Souls in Nuts and Bars 344 A Ruined Tower and Grubby Souls 345 Soft Fingers and Stabbing Lead (Or: A Barber like an Embalmer) 345 Snow 346 God like a Television Lever 346 Dancing Wraiths 347 Poor Souls 347 Re-Run 348 Perhaps, My Love 348 Providence 348 A Telephone Call and a Tent 349 A Morning Thing (Or: Love like a Furtive Sin) 349 Hospital Garden 349 A First-Class Citizen 350 Spectre of a Cloud 350 A Naughty Fish and a Cat 350 Blackbird in the Gardens 351 My Typist and a Tuppenceworth 351 Sparks from a Muse 352 Fins 352 Totterings 352 Telephones 353 The Entryphone 353 A Sedan-Chair and Dorset Rocks 353 Funeral like an Eel in a Green Sea 353 Decisions 354 We Two Are Three 354 Freedom like a Constant Wife 354 Russian Cross 355 A Coat of Arms 355 A Shower of Pussy Willow and Hazel Catkins 356 Words like Ditches 356 Ritual like a Knight’s Candlelight 356 Ambassador of the Eternal 357 Moon 357 A Plasticine Soul 357 Bank Balance like an Honest Wife 357 The Elysian Club 358 Squandering Time 358 New Powers 359 Form like a Radiator 359 Bringing Evil Down 360 Cold War 360 Fly-Wheeled Away 361 The Heart of Celery 361 Time a Minute Away 361 Wind in a War Cemetery 362 Near Cabourg 362 A Wish by Water 362 Heaven: Glass like the Windows of a Soul 363 The Present Moment (Or: Being) 363 Is There a God? Is There a Sun? 364 Rapt 364 Tankas 365 1. Mind like Broken Glass 365 2. Serene 365 3. Illusions 365 4. A Humpty Dumpty Man 365 5. Daisy Chain 365 Haikus 365 A Mallard and a Law of Nature 365 Two-thirty a.m.: Parenthood 366 Driftwood Girls 367 Communities like Apples 367 Tradition like a Splendid Wall 367 After the Eclipse 368 Illusions like Cotton Wool 368 Volcano 368 Gold 369 Gargoyle 369 The Disgust of Death 369 Souls like Pigeons 370 Pollen 370 A Muscular Sensibility 370 No Pros 371 Overflow 371 Ghost Town 371 Energy Techniques 372 Wistful Time-Travellers (First Version) 372 Leaves that Feed 373 Winter Wind 374 A Flowering 374 Westerners and Desire: A Dialogue between Body and Soul (Or: Between the Maenads 374 and Orpheus) A Finger of Lightning 375 Illusions like Blossom 375 The Price of a House 376 The Fall of the West 377 Grass and Brambles, Pulsing 379 April Daffodils 379 Tanka 379 A Tin-Lid Mind 380 Skeleton 380 Crested Newt 380 The Consolation 381 The Height of the West 381 Fallen London 381 Decay 382 Guest, Guessed 382 Garden (On the Third Anniversary) 382 The Sea-Crossing 382 Imagination: Tree of Candles 383 Robin in Snow 383 A Robin looks at Humankind 383 Wasp, Buzzing 384 Source 384 Strawberry Hill Pond 385 Tooting Fair 386 Wet Rot 386 Vitality Globules 386 Eagle 386 Bee 387 Crab 387 Head 387 Prison 387 Philoctetes Detached 388 Wobblings 388 Suns 388 A Frosty Grave 389 Discoverer 389 Tanka 389 Frail Western Cities 389 Eternity Caught 390 Stillness within Motion 390 Lopping Time 390 Plant 390 Sun, Shade 391 Time’s Mowing-Machine 391 Singing Birds 391 Fly 391 Creation 391 Snow, Ice 392 Beyond the Veil 392 Bobbing Law 392 Life that Might Have Been 392 Urn, Time 393 The Teleport 393 Fifth Anniversary 393 The Sea is Wild 393 Fingers of Providence 394 Notes 394

18. Lady of the Lamp 1979 Lady of the Lamp 398 1. Rapt in a Hotel Room 398 2. Light from a Warm House 398 3. Like an Earth-Mother 398 4. My Soul 399 5. A Bee-Like Soul 399 6. The Burden 399 7. Glass Goldfish 399 8. The Shell 400 9. Lord with a Sword 400 10. Eurydice 400 11. Blindfolds: Lady of the Lamp 400 12. Near-Wife 401 13. Ten Wives 401 14. Breaststroke, Drowning 401 15. Greyness 402 16. The Mask 402 17. Dream Cottage 402 18. Secret Place 402 19. Chaffinch Song 403 20. Enemy 403 21. Horseshoe 403 22. Blowlamp 404 23. Web 404 24. Sea of Light 404 25. Portrait 404 26. Blue Tit 405 27. The Mugger 405 28. Kerb-Crawling 405 29. Curate 406 30. Barrier 406 31. Wilderness 406 32. Swan-Upping 406 33. Warm Fire 407 34. The Challenge 407 35. Encampment 407 36. Dustpan 408 37. Solitude 408 38. Door 408 39. Stalemate 408 40. Mutiny 409 41. Softness 409 42. Parting 409 43. Cushion 410 44. Mariner 410 45. Friendships 410 46. Ivy and Oak 410 47. Locket 411 48. Taoist Lady 411 49. Nun 411 50. World like a Wife 412 51. Kite 412 52. Tribunal 412 53. Immobility 412 54. Snowman, Melted 413 55. Neglected 413 Notes 413

19. The Fire-Flower 1980 Preface on the Metaphysical Revolution 415 A Metaphysical in Marvell’s Garden 424 A Crocus in the Churchyard 425 Fire-Void (A Rubbish Dump at Nobe, Japan: An Investigation of Nature and History, 426 Pattern and Meaning) Sea-Fire 427 A Mystic Fire-Potter’s Red Sun-Halo 428 An Aesthete’s ‘Golden’ Artefacts 429 Pear-Ripening House 430 Clouded-Ground Pond 431 Two Variations on One Theme 431 1. Time and Eternity (Second Version) 431 2. The Bride of Time 432 A Stonemason’s Flower-Bowl 433 An Obscure Symbolist’s Rock-Tree 433 The Tree of Imagination 435 Firethorn 436 A Temple-Dancer’s Temple-Sleep 437 A Metaphysical’s Light-Mandala 439 The Fire-Flower 440 Notes 442

20. Quartet: Beauty and Angelhood 1981 Beauty and Angelhood 1. High Leigh 457 2. Hawkwood 458 3. Kent House 459 4. St. Peter’s Convent 460 Notes 461

21. The Wind and the Earth 1981 The Wind and the Earth 476 1. Reddening Leaves 476 2. Rosy Cheeks, Blurred Eyes 476 3. Nothing Said 476 4. African Violet 477 5. Turnip Lanterns 477 6. Chill Fingers 477 7. A Shaken Head 477 8. Moaning Wind 478 9. Lost Light 478 10. Crack in the Earth 478 11. Heart like a Stopped Clock 479 12. A Flickering Candle 479 13. Lamb and Rose 479 14. Fire: Sparks 479 15. Frost-Burn 480 16. The Fingers that Plucked the Strings 480 17. Memory, Phone Line 480 18. A Spray of Fern 480 19. A Thread to the Rafters 481 20. Smoke 481 21. Wind-Chaser 481 22. Beethoven 482 23. Sacrificed Life 482 24. Black Bags, White Cards 482 25. Grieving 482 26. Wedding Ring 483 27. Christening Dress 483 28. A Paper Wasps’ Nest 483 29. Scattered 483 30. White Blanket 484 31. Photo Album: Question and Answer 484 32. A Thaw 484 33. Love like Frosty Air 485 34. Leaves in the Hair 485 35. Like a Roman Coin 485 36. Violin Soul 485 37. Earth 486 38. Urn like a Nest 486 39. Cinders 486 40. Chinese Table: Rose of Light 487 41. Privacy 487 42. Tortoiseshell Clock 487 43. Violin Sighs 487 44. Invisible Body 488 45. Saint 488 46. No One Has Rung 488 47. Imagining 489 48. Shout 489 49. Lurch 489 50. Toadstools and Puffballs 489 51. Brittle Leaves 490 52. Reduction 490 53. Forget-Me-Nots 490 54. Chrysalis 491 55. Stone 491 56. Toy Soldiers 491 57. Ghosts 491 58. Still Mind 492 59. Ash 492 60. Head-Scarf 492 61. Wind-Dancer 493 62. Call 493 Notes 493

22. A Rainbow in the Spray 1981–1985 Crab-Fishing on a Boundless Deep 494 The Royal Masonic Hospital: The Nut within the Sun 495 Cambridge Ode: Against Materialism (Or: Newton’s Enlightenment) 495 Garden of Organism 498 Night Visions in Charlestown (An Ode) 499 On the Death of Aunt Flo (Sonnets) 501 1. Dead Cheek 501 2. Kestrels 502 3. Evening Star 502 4. Meteorite 502 5. Stream and Sea 502 6. Watching Smoke 503 7. Grain 503 8. Snake Skin 503 A Fountain of Stars: The Universe in Love 503 At Penquite House, Near St. Sampson’s 504 Passion Play 505 Copped Hall 505 The Tide 506 At Hatfield House 507 Fragment: Being Dammed 507 An Infinity of Universes (A Fragment) 507 Multiplicity: A Nightmare (A Fragment) 507 Multiplicity: Through the Mirror 508 Multiplicity: Between Bathroom Mirrors 508 Dialogue between Body and Soul 508 A Woman’s Heart 509 Chariot-Race 509 When I Die 509 Goldfinch 509 Flowers from a Shell 509 At Greenfield Farmhouse 510 Greenfield 511 Glass-Blowing: Flower 511 Lock-Gate at Fort Augustus: Back to our Source 511 The Bagpiper 512 Iona: Silence 512 Staffa: Wind 513 At Findhorn 513 The Massacre at Culloden 514 Letter to Wordsworth 515 Letter to Beatrix Potter 515 Sea Force 516 Sea-Rescues: Death like a Cormorant 516 Dark from Polkerris (A Fragment) 517 At Tintagel: St. Juliot and Merlin 517 Hauling up Nets in Mount’s Bay: Divine Plan 518 Mist: Lungs, Waves 519 Clouds Hill 519 Quiet 520 Sportsmen, Mists 520 Insouciance 520 At West Ham: Saved by an Artist 520 Orpheus (A Dramatic Monologue) 522 Bristol Fighter 522 Rainbow Land 523 Man the Polluter 523 After the Storms 523 Dead Voice 524 Thoughtless Boy 524 Athene the Wise 524 Ten Years 524 Wind-Harp and Wind-Veins 524 Sunrise and Clarinet 525 Orpheus to Eurydice (A Soul-and-Body Sequence) 525 Lock-Gate 527 Time Compressed (Or: A Universe like Sparkles from a Wave) 528 Lights like Driving Rain 528 Raindrops like Stars (Or: Warmth on a Dewdrop Earth) 528 Still Clouds and Whirling Stars (Or: A Hole in an Eggshell Universe) 529 Veins 529 Blue Up, Brown Down 529 Crystal: Rainbows 530 Rainbow Vision 530 Worthing 530 Need 530 Star-Gazing 531 Illusion and Reality 531 Bats Flitting 532 A Blind and a Kink 532 As Without So Within 532 The Flight of the Shaman 532 Sunflowers and a Godless Society 533 Tease 533 Sculptor at Château Montfort 533 Channel Crossing 533 The Merry-Go-Round 534 On the Channel 534 Stars like Bees and Petals 534 A Universe of Glowing Seed 534 In Périgord 535 Reason like a Boat 537 Will like a Kite 537 Tamed Ponies 538 Consciousness 538 Something Discarded in the Sand 538 Rod-Fishing 539 Words Spent like Waves 539 Moments like Waves 539 Cerberus 539 The Regeneration of the Creative West 540 Soon not see the Sun 540 The Wonder of the West: At Goonhilly 541 The Divine 541 At Gunwalloe 541 At Porthleven: All One 542 Wisdom (Fragment) 542 Tin-Mine and Hawk 542 Ilfracombe 542 Rough Stones like Monks 543 Trevarthian Revisited 543 Lettice 543 At Geevor Tin-Mine 544 At Pendeen Lighthouse 544 Fire: Senses 544 Drips of Light 545 Oaklands: Oak Tree 545 With Harold at Waltham 545 Greensted Church: Martyr 546 Hallooing in Fog 547 Pilgrim’s Flight 547 White Daisy 548 Astronomy and Order 548 Cathedral of Poetry 549 At Dark Age Jorvik: The Light of Civilisation 549 Everyday Life and Economics: Past Lives 550 Soul like a Magpie 551 Snow, Hair 551 Notes 551

23. Question Mark over the West 1986–1988 Fountain of Ice 560 Oxford Revisited 560 Question Mark over the West 561 Cotswolds: Winter Four-Sidedness 562 Ode: Counter Renaissance 563 At Dove Cottage 565 At Blea Tarn House 566 The Artist 567 lnner Power 567 The Power within the Mind (Or: At Aira Force Waterfall) 567 The Guide of Meaning (Or: The Quicksands of Meaninglessness) 568 At Cartmel Priory: Taming the Unicorn 569 The Victim of Terrorism (A Fragment) 570 Morris Dancers 570 In Shakespeare’s Stratford: The Nature of Art 570 Castles in the Air 573 Windmill 574 Weeping Willows 574 Shadows 575 Warm Rain 575 Bluebell Wood 575 Ice-Skating 576 Split Pine and Pine-Cones 576 Squirrel on the Lawn 576 A Death in the Boat 576 At Gunwalloe: The Tao 577 The Fishermen: God’s Plan 577 Bats 578 Dazzling Glare 578 Cloud of Unknowing 578 In Gough’s Cavern, Cheddar 578 Paper like a Tongue 579 By the Chalice Well, Glastonbury (A Contemplation) 579 The Romantic Revolution 582 Gog and Magog 582 Hedgehog in the Wild 583 A Pilgrim in Europe 583 St. Olaf’s Church 586 Dried Spring 586 Full Moon on the Pennines 586 Near Barham 587 Visit to a Philosopher (A Fragment) 587 Reality in Legoland 588 The Metaphysical Conductor 588 A Viking Inheritance 589 Long Barrow at Lejre 589 Centre of the Maze 590 At Gilbjerg: Kierkegaard the Romantic 590 At Jelling (A Fragment) 591 Vikings and the Sea 591 At Charlestown 591 Time and Eternity: A Cross of Light 591 Spur Dog and Philosopher 592 Out on the Alone, or, The Mystery of Being 592 Gravity 593 Christmas 593 Christingle 594 A Stroke from the Dark (Or: Mind in a Brain X-Ray) 594 A Gardener in Heaven 595 From the Cobb, Lyme Regis, 1988 (Or: 400 Years On) 595 Family Gatherings 595 At Polruan Castle, a 15th Century Blockhouse 596 Moonlight 596 On Eliot’s Church 596 The Dead Poet Bids Farewell to his Mourners 596 A Home like a Nest 597 Notes 597

24. A Sneeze in the Universe 1989–1992 The Artist and Fame 602 Maturing Love and Vision (Or: The 85 Year Old Orpheus to any Woman) 602 Shingle Streaked with Tar 602 A Business Walk by the Sea 603 Chain and Padlock: Time and Forgotten Years 603 Thought between Gorran Pier and Charlestown Sea 603 Images at Twilight: Emperor to Sun-Goddess 604 Prince Toad 604 Pump and Brain Downstairs 605 Easter Sunday 605 Toil 606 Being’s Shout 606 Charlestown in Motion 606 A Cold in the Heart 606 A Summer’s Day, A Horrible Event 607 Dancing Universe 607 House Martins in the Dock 608 Silence 608 Under the Stars 608 An Evangelist’s Instant Salvation 609 Angels and Paradise: Question and Answer 609 Brezhnev to Gorbachev 610 Donkey Derby 610 Parachutist 610 Ben Nevis: Cloud of Unknowing 610 Spring, Brain 611 Charlestown: Moon and Meteorite Trails 612 Up the Tamar 612 Two Swans 612 Universe 613 The Church of Storms 613 At Gunwalloe: Light 613 Light like Fish 613 Run Aground 614 Pale Fire (A Fragment) 614 Pale Fire 614 Coupling: Space 615 Elemental Sea 615 Invisible Foam 615 Stillness and Tides 615 Candleflame Storm 616 A Man of Winds and Tides 616 Being as a Ripple or Two 616 Gnosis: The Nature of the Self (Or: Brain Mind; Heart, Soul; Spark, Spirit) 617 Skylark and Foam 618 Consciousness like a Pond 618 In Budapest Old City 618 Danube: Ball and Chain 618 Willow-Warblers 619 Western Men and Isis 619 A Crystal 619 Metaphysical-Physical (Or: Orpheus-Tammuz, Serene among the Maenads) 620 Wistful Time-Travellers (Second Version) 620 Snow, Peace 621 Ode: Spider’s Web: Our Local Universe in an Infinite Whole 621 Tinkling: Being like a Breeze 624 Abbot of the Spring 624 Two Tombs: Life within Death 624 Sparkles in an Infinite Sea 624 Rippling One 625 At Polruan Blockhouse: Soul and Body 625 At Gunwalloe: Calm and Serene 625 At Porthleven 626 Tall-Masted Ships and Woodpeckers 626 Reflection and Reality: Peak Experiences and Tidal Consciousness 626 Spring, Monk 630 A Shooting Star (Or: Universe: Hostile and Friendly) 630 Calvary: A Pure Being goes under the Earth 631 Smeaton’s Tower and Western Civilisation 632 Bumble-Bee: Correspondence 633 Polkerris-Kerris 633 Lyonesse: Being like Submerged Land 633 Shadow on the Cliff 634 Night Winds: Dozing 634 Cathedral 634 Gulls: A Cloud of Being 635 Lepers’ Abbey 635 The Universe in Motion, and a Still 635 Lightning over the Sea 636 A Gold Being, Glowing 636 At the Ballowall Barrow 636 Dandelion 636 Mermaid of Zennor 637 Ancient Village: Our Skilled Tin-Panning Ancestors 637 A Moon with a Halo 637 Cleansed Senses and a Tinkling, Rustling Green 637 Eternity 638 Mechanised Motion and Nature 638 Fire within the Globe 638 Harvest Moon and a Cheer 638 Image and Reality: Street-Lamp and Sun in Mist 639 War and Peace 639 At Kabuki: The Flower of Culture 639 Flower (Yugen) 639 Children like Fruit 640 Copper Beech: Fountain and Fire 640 The Divine Breath 640 We Two are Clouds 640 Two Clouds 641 Full Moon 641 Orange Tree 641 An Old Cornish Lady Glimpses Reality 642 Rainbow 642 Reflection and Reality 642 Bare Tree 642 Separate Clouds 643 Tube 643 Snowdrop Drooping 643 Sunlight 643 Mystery 644 Fragments about the Universe 644 Stepping-Stones 644 Gig-Racing 644 The One and the Many 645 Moon and Tide 645 Hooded Falcon 645 Still and Moving: Moon and Eyes 646 Wind, Walls 646 Young and Old: Noise and Stealth 646 What if Gravity Snapped? 646 Notes 647

25. A Flirtation with the Muse 1992–1993 Christine Carpenter to the World 652 The Artist, Enclosed 652 Hesitation 652 Anticipation and Regret 653 Quatrefoil: Mirror Images 653 Stepping-Stones 653 Healing Muse: Images 654 A Free Spirit 654 Wind 654 Time and the Timeless 655 Tin-Mine near Land’s End 655 Rising Souls 655 Collapse of Progress 655 My Muse 656 Love and Death 656 My Muse, Gone 656 Ruin 657 Storm and Art 657 Yugoslavia 657 Spring Tide and Academic Work 657 Muse’s Gift 658 Imagination: Spring and Sea 658 Seismic Inspiration 658 Midnight in Jesus College, Cambridge 658 Forms from Movement Theory 659 A Sunlit Wall 659 Autumn at Flatford Mill 659 Lock-Gates 660 Nature, Walled 660 Five-Per-Cent Rise in Interest Rates 660 Being in Snowdonia 661 Snowdon 661 Lights like Souls 661 Stillness Overlooking Anglesey 661 Plunging, Soaring Mountains (Or: “Cor!”) 661 A New Life 662 Transient Existence and Lasting Being (Or: Lasting Things and Transient Things) 662 Rabbit: Self-Preservation 662 Ladybird 662 Love like a Selfless Priest 663 Leaves like Memories 663 Brilliant Sun 663 Split Ash 663 All Souls’ Day 664 Flow and Flood 664 Gunwalloe Metaphysical Sonnet: Boiling Foam 664 Elemental 665 Harbour-master 665 Royals 665 The Workings of the Universe 666 The Return of the Muse 666 Lady through the Window 666 Muse Inspiring: Winged Lion 666 Lines: Town and Country 667 Frost 667 Reflections on Time: Past and Present, Horseman and Lion 667 White-Centred Flower 668 After a Death 668 Fog and Frost: The Universe 668 Crematorium 668 Parting the Blind 669 Healing Muse: Knowledge 669 Doubt: The Muse as Will O’ The Wisp 669 Muse: Love like Flowers 669 Muse: Questions 670 Muse: Alive 670 Dream of the Muse 670 Arrivederci, Muse 671 Turbulence 671 Drizzle 671 Airwaves 671 Butterfly 672 Tropical Fish 672 Paradiso 672 Not Endurance but Process: The Past Present 673 Rain Globes 673 Illumined Artists as Leaders of their Civilisation 674 Muse Withdrawn 674 February Daffodils 674 Flock 675 At Colinton 675 In Spylaw Street: Love and Pain, Flow and Boulders 675 Outside Heaven 675 Like a Descending Christ 676 Long-Tailed Field Mouse 676 Chaos and Order 676 Fire I Am 676 Car Park: Ascending 677 The Nightingale in the Mind (Or: The Source of Poetic Inspiration) 677 Soul like a Greenfinch 677 Stormy Petrel 677 Sand-Hoppers 678 Notes 678

26. Sojourns 1993 Pisa 680 Bells 680 Thunder 680 Paradise, Red Card 680 Rain, Mind 681 Cloistered 681 Peace and a Tear 681 Sun and Shade 681 Muse, Desolate 682 Spiral 682 The Gateway to Paradise 682 Water 682 Fountain Spray 683 Muse: Working in Isolation 683 Italy: Lizard 683 Fire: Source 683 The Laughing Philosopher 683 A Stain of Fire 685 Execution 685 Poet and Snail 685 Sting 686 Oak 686 Epithalamion 686 Peace and War 687 Garden 687 Soul like a Rose 688 Niagara Falls: Beauty and Transience 688 Floral Clock: Beauty’s Chimes 688 At Lake Ontario 688 In Boston 688 Rainbow in Mist 689 Susquehanna 689 On Catching a Glimpse of the U.N. Security Council Chamber 689 Amish Farms, Pennsylvania 690 Everglades Swamp, Florida 690 Buried Treasure 690 In St. Augustine 690 Crossing Howard Franklin Bridge, St. Petersburg, USA 691 At Spaceport, USA 691 Daytona, USA 691 George Washington and a Lizard 692 American Liberty Quintet 692 The Hills of Fife: Doves and Wedding 707 Tobogganing Down the Sky 707 Rubble 708 Arrival of the Muse 708 Mask 708 Together 708 Aura 709 Beauty: Pumping, Deflating 709 Gong 709 Snake-Charmer 709 Waters 709 Muse, Coaxing 710 Buried Together 710 Images 710 Tram 710 Possessed 710 Vines and Roses 711 Rain 711 Execution 711 Goodbye 711 Painted Face: Coin 712 Dog Days: Shooting Stars 712 Emptiness 712 Trawling 712 Stealth 712 Sea-Shanty 713 Tall Ship 713 Brig 713 Philoctetes: Wound and Bow 713 Midnight Sky: Hawthorn and Almond 713 Dancing 714 Correspondence 714 Springs of Art 714 Milky Way: Lobster and Sauce 714 Headband 714 A Boy, 22, Dead 715 Mist: Bat and Walls 715 Snail Shell 715 Stillness 715 Storm, Destroying 716 Guests 716 Truth 716 Night Sky: Quatrains 716 1. Fountain of Stars 716 2. Tent 716 3. Tree 716 4. Peacock 716 5. Sparks 716 6. Raindrops 716 Downpour of Light 717 Light like Mackerel 717 Greenfinch with Worm 717 Trodden Daisies 717 Youth 717 Tram: Orange and White 717 Flat 718 Pale 718 Dishes 718 Well 718 Reputation: Self-Stripping 719 Rich 719 Heartache 719 Secret of the Muse 719 Notes 720

27. Angel of Vertical Vision 1993 High Angel 723 As If 723 Elegance like Paradise 723 Smirk 723 Glow 724 Bees 724 Golden Mean 724 Levels 724 Juice 725 Dark Angel 725 Typist 725 Genius 725 Energy 725 Kneading 726 Height 726 Earth Goddess 726 Fertility 726 Dream 726 Thoughts 727 Full 727 Attention 727 Bruised 727 Shrapnel, Grappling Iron 727 Ashes 728 Cord 728 Beautiful Soul 728 Pruning 728 If You Wonder: Answer 728 Poems like Canvases 729 Earth and Light (Or: Pythoness) 729 Busybody Sun 729 After the Fracture: Growth 729 Man (Or: God the Artist) 730 Communists like Wasps 730 The Shingle of the Stars 730 Invisible Tree 731 Moist 731 Peering Face 731 Fire: Logs 731 Fountaining Leaves 731 Books, Lives 732 Red Sun 732 The Way We See 732 Standards 732 The Philosopher’s Stone: Soul and Golden Flower 733 The Philosopher’s Stone: World and Mankind 733 Notes 734

28. A Dandelion Clock 1994–2004 Charlestown 736 Scale 736 Snow-White 736 Tiny Flies 736 Snowdon, Snow 737 Togetherness 737 Great Events, Small Things 737 Puffin Island 737 Calm Sea, Devouring Dark 738 A Modern Pilgrimage 738 A Grand Tour of Central Europe 742 1. Brussels: Quadriga 742 2. Hannover: Rathaus 743 3. Berlin: Vibrant East 743 4. Berlin: German Reunification 743 5. Berlin: Von Stauffenberg 743 6. Potsdam: Spokes of Light 744 7. Potsdam: Frederick’s Summer Palace 744 8. Warsaw: Razed, Rebuilt 744 9. Warsaw: Unknown Soldier 745 10. Jasna Gora: Black Madonna 745 11. Cracow: Bodily Assumption 745 12. Cracow: Ghetto 745 13. Budapest: Phoenix 746 14. Budapest: Gabriel 746 15. Budapest: Light, Horror 746 16. On the Danube Frontier 746 17. Vienna: Wheel of Fortune 747 18. Vienna: History Clock 747 19. Salzburg: Mozart 747 20. Munich: Hitler 747 21. Rothenburg: Blood 748 22. Lorelei: Siren 748 23. Cologne: Marionette 748 Death Like a Crow 748 Being 749 In Ithaca; Treasure 749 Odysseus Near Amalfi 749 Fragments of Unused Drafts for Overlord 750 Fragments of Unused Drafts for Overlord: The Universe 752 Undated Unused Fragments for Overlord 753 Undated Fragments on Europe 755 Undated Fragments on the Universe 755 Mount Brocken: Form 756 Wrinkled Sea 756 Birds Singing 756 The Steed of State 757 Time: The Earth’s Axle Turning 757 Goblet of Light 757 Rush 758 Tilty 758 Sonnet to Cerberus: on the War in Yugoslavia 758 In an English Garden, True to Nature 758 Wasp 759 Flint 759 Ferreted Rabbit 759 Lock-Up 760 On the Author-Owner of St Osyth’s Priory 760 Bird Soaring 761 A Rose 761 Sea-Gale and the One 762 Cormorant Fishing 762 At the Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey: The Joy of Existence 762 Light-Shower at Sea 763 At Gweek 763 The Message of the Ruins 763 Fragment Unused in Zeus’s Ass 763 Togetherness, Wet-Dry 764 Foaming, Dipping, Bobbing 764 Under Pompey’s Theatre 764 Sweet Chestnut, Acorn 765 Love 765 Snow and Silence 765 Soil 765 Sisyphus 765 Crucifixion 766 Poems like Coins and Stamps 766 Illusions in a Plane 767 America Lost 767 Spirals 767 Corpulent Souls 768 At Passirac 768 Dialogue between Soul and Egocentric Body 768 Cormorant 768 Snails, Hiding 769 The Harbour 769 Garden: Reflections at Great Easton 770 Greeting 770 Winning 770 Burrs 771 Sea Energy 771 Attached-Unattached 771 Squirrel 771 The Sea’s Disturbed 772 Sunlight Splashing 772 Stance 772 A Dandelion Clock 773 Terns 773 Petals Like Snow 773 Snails 774 Small Tortoiseshell 774 Sunray 774 Rare 774 Smoke, Ink 775 Diamonds 775 Pearl 775 Shooting Star 775 Storm 776 1. The Dancer 776 2. Assault 776 3. Power 776 Quicksand 777 Sun 777 Fossil 777 Sprinklings 777 Aargh! 778 Flowers 778 Dreadful Event 778 Herbs 778 A Silent Woman’s Best 779 Summer 779 Lady-Smock Time 779 Swifts 780 Ladybird Crawling 780 Snail 780 Souls Like Fish 780 Little Person 781 Diamond 781 Acorns 781 Breathless Calm 781 Snail Sliding 782 Nectar 782 Intelligence 783 Dark 783 Still 783 Paradise 783 Gnats, Snails 784 Each Leaf Unique 784 Notes 784

29. Summoned by Truth 2000–2005 Preface on Truth 788 Zeus’s Ass 790 Attack on America 810 Shock and Awe 818 Notes 833

30. Sighs of the Muses 2005 Groans of the Muses 840 Return to Oxford 845 Hustings: Raw 847 Authorship Question in a Dumbed-Down Time 847 Epitaphs 849 Notes 849 Appendix: Vision and Technique in the Collected Poems 853 1. The Experience of Illumination 853 2. The Method and Form of ‘The Silence’ 859 3. The Genesis and Shaping of the New Baroque Vision 965 4. Extracts from ‘Revolution in Thought and Culture’ 874 5. The Approach of the Later Poems 882

Classical Odes List of poems in Contents

Preface on Classical Odes xv The Principle Behind the Order of the these Odes xx

Book One: A Tudor Knot Preface 23 I At Otley: Timber-Framed Tradition 24 Pastoral Ode: Landslide, The End of Great Britain 26 At Chartwell with Churchill 29 At Colchester’s Keep 33 At Chalfont St Giles: Shakespeare’s Dark Lady 35 At Caernarvon Castle 39 At Tilty Battlefield 41 At Scadbury 42 At Pengersick Castle 45 At Raleigh’s Sherborne 46 Contemplations by a Sundial 49 At Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s Compton Castle 50 In Boulge Churchyard 52 In Letheringham Priory Church 53 Ancestral Seat: At John Hagger’s Bourn 55 At Netherhall 57 In Dark Age Angle-Land 58 On Curtius Leaping into the Earth 60 At Butley Priory Gatehouse 62 At St Osyth’s Priory 63 In Edward de Vere’s Castle Hedingham 66 At Royal Sutton Hoo: Raedwald and the End of England 69 In Anglo-Saxon Suffolk 70 Sixty in Lavenham Priory 71 South Wraxall Manor, Wiltshire 73 In Otley Hall’s Medieval Gardens* 74

II A Tudor Youth 77 At St Mawes Castle: The Defence of England 79 Imagination and Reality: The Globe Actors Search for Realism 81 Sheep at Tilty Abbey 82 Imagining Tudor Players in the Plahouse 84 At the Bell: The Past 86 At the Bourn Fête: Ancestors 87 Stone Circle: Reflections on Leedon Tor, Dartmoor 88 At Holcombe Court, Devon: Tower 91 At Little Coggeshall Abbey 92 In the National Gallery 94 At Columbine Hall 95 Round Hedingham Castle 97 With Holbein’s Ambassadors on 11 April 1533 99 Among Otley Hall’s Enthusiasts 101

III Second Pastoral Ode: Landslide Unchanged: The End of England 104 At Helmingham Hall 107 At the Earl of Southampton’s Titchfield 109 At Sandringham 113 At and With Somerleyton 115 At Spains Hall, Finchingfield 117 At Shake-speare’s Globe 119 In Westminster Abbey: Sanctuary Pavement 121 At Middle Temple Hall 126 In Rutland’s England 129 Farewell to my Tudor Knot 134 In Somerset’s Avalon 138 In the Empress of India’s London 140 In Westminster: The Passing of an Era 144 At Surrey’s Tomb, Framlingham 145 In De Vere’s Hackney 149 At Beckingham Palace: Talent of a Meritocracy 152 At the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, London: The End of a Golden Age 154 At the Thaxted Horn Dance 161 In Poets’ Corner with Marlowe: Marigold 162 At Tudor Otley Hall: The End of England 166

IV In the De Vere Society Library, Otley Hall: Caleygreyhound 168 At Horham Hall 170 Outside the Old Bailey: A Ruthless Queen? 172 In Search of Bartholomew Gosnold’s Boyhood Home 177 On Harrowdown Hill 179 In Old Charlestown 184 In the Houses of Parliament 187 At Roxwell Church 189 In the Carlton Club 190 At Cistercian Tilty Abbey 193 In Buckingham Palace’s State Rooms 194 At Normanhurst School: A Lost Leader 199 At Bancroft’s with the Conservatives: Plots and England’s Decadence 204 In the Commons: Coup 207 With the Ofsted Inspectors 209 Tracking Shake-speare 210 Return to Stratford* 213 The End of Otley Hall 224 The Conquest of England 228

Book Two: In Europe’s Ruins Preface 237

I At the Gates of San Sebastian: The Fall of Rome* 238 On Delos: Island of Apollo 239 In Porto Cheli 241 On Skiros 242 At Versailles Palace: Palace of Art 244 At the Chapel of the Holy Blood, Bruges 248 At Waterloo 250 At Rembrandt’s House, Amsterdam 251 At Beethoven’s Birthplace, Bonn 252 In Habsburg Prague, with Knights and King of Jerusalem 255 At the Villa Careggi, Florence 259 At San Marco, Florence 263 By the Arno, Pisa 266 On the Führerbunker, Berlin 268 In Potsdam 269 At Jasna Gora, Czestochowa 270 In Cracow 272 In Old Buda 275 In the Serbian Orthodox Church at Szentendre 277 Summer Palaces 278 At Mozart’s Salzburg 282 In Rothenburg: Blood and Rose 283 In Obersalzberg 285 In Hitler’s Nuremberg 287 At Goethe’s Houses, Weimar 289 Auschwitz and Immortality 292

II In Pythagorion, on Polycrates’ Samos 294 In Byron’s Ithaca 297 With Munich’s Wittelsbachs 299 In the Harz Mountains, on Mount Brocken 301 On Montgomery’s Lüneburg Heath 303 At Rheims’ Jerusalem 304 On and under Athens’ Acropolis: The First Greek Theatre 305 In Plato’s Athens and Eleusis: The Mysteries of Death 309 At Paestum 311 At the Grotto of the Sibyl, Cumae 313 At Pompeii 315 At Virgil’s Tomb 318 On Vesuvius 320 At the Villa Jovis, Capri 322 At Herculaneum 323 At Poppaea’s Villa, Oplontis 324 A Leaping Diver in Sybarite Paestum 326 In Delphi: Oracles, Inevitability and Freewill 328 In Pheidias’s Workshop 331 At Nestor’s Palace, Pylos 333 In Cleon’s Pylos 335 At Byzantine Mistras 336 At Menelaos’s Palace, Sparta 338 At Aegina’s Temple of Aphaia: Athenian Sea Power 340 On St John’s Patmos 342 Among the Knights of Rhodes 344 At Knossos: Minotaur 346 At Sounion: Dreaming of Empires 348

III The Admiral’s House in Atlantis 351 At Daphni 353 At the Pantheon 354 At Horace’s Sabine Farm 356 At Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli 358 At the House of Augustus, Rome 360 In the Vatican 362 At the Ara Pacis, Rome 365 At Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome 367 In Domitilla’s Catacomb, Rome 369 In the Sistine Chapel 371 In Keats’ House, Rome 373 In Dante’s Verona 375 At Catullus’s Sirmione 378 At the Doge’s Palace, Venice 380 In Edward de Vere’s Venice 383 At Rennes-Le-Château: Mission 1891 387 At Carcassonne and Montségur: Castles of Light 389 On Motya and the Ephemerality of Nationalism 392 Etna: Eruption of Intense Power 394 At the Turin Shroud: The Face of Christ 396 In Syracuse: The End of Empires 400

IV In the Baroque Royal Palace of the Defunct House of Savoy, Turin: On the Ephemerality 402 of Monarchs In Nero’s Golden Palace 403 Among Botticelli’s Rediscovered Illustrations of Dante 405 A Walk through the Palatine into Julian Rome 406 At Bracciano Castle, near Rome 407 Looking at Cleopatra’s Palace 408 On the Rediscovered Library at Herculaneum 410 Among Lisbon’s Discoverers 412 At the Bourbon Royal Palace, Madrid 415 At Philip the Second’s El Escorial: The Unity of Knowledge 417 In El Greco’s Toledo 421 In Moorish Cordoba: An Orange Tree 423 In the Moorish Alhambra, Granada: Paradise, Oneness 426 At the Moorish Alcazar, Seville 430 At Agamemnon’s Mycenae and Epidavros: Justice 434 At Epidavros: Temple-Sleep 437 At Chania’s Hill 439 In Selinunte’s Carthaginian Settlement 441 Among Aeneas’s Trojans 442 At Su Nuraxi, in Sardinia 446 In Colonial Menorca 448 A Teenager in Greece: Youth and Age 449 In Aphrodite’s Cyprus: Body and Spiritual Beauty 451 In Turkish Cyprus 454 In EOKA’s Cyprus: End of Empire 457 In Aquitaine 462 In the Fortunate Isles with Columbus 465 In Maspalomas Wellness Centre 467 Near Baiae’s Oracle of the Dead: Gateway to the Underworld 469 In Paphos’s City of the Dead 473 In Euro-City, Brussels* 475

Book Three: A Global Sway Preface 483 I At the Bank Managers’ Dinner, Grosvenor House Hotel 484 At Troy VI 485 In Hellenistic Pergamum 487 In Ephesus 490 At Didyma’s Oracle 492 At Dostoevsky’s Apartment, St Petersburg 494 At the Winter Palace, St Petersburg 496 At the Yusupov Palace, St Petersburg 497 In Conference Yalta 499 At Chekhov’s House, Yalta 500 In the Kremlin 502 At Tolstoy’s Winter House, Khamovniki 505 On Martha’s Vineyard 507 At Jamestown, with the Founder of America 509 On Top of Jefferson’s Mountain 512 On Roanoke Island 514 Whale-Watching under Snæfellesjökull 519 In the Westman Islands off Iceland 520 Petrol Blockade 522 At the Tomb of Kha: On the Transcendence of Mortality 523 Watching Revolution in Belgrade 525 In Stephen Ward’s Web 526 Reflections on the Nice Summit 530

II At the American Embassy, London 534 At Cyrene: Apollo’s Bride 536 Near Leptis Magna 537 At Sabratha 539 Return to Tripoli 541 At El Djem Amphitheatre: Desert Rose 547 At Carthage 549 In the British Library: Proofs of Genocide 551 At Chingford Assembly Hall: Leaders After Laeken 554 In the Global Economy with Bill Clinton 556 In the Lord Lieutenant of Essex’s Yorktown 558 In Tilty: Star of Bethlehem 561 At Sulgrave Manor 565 On the Queen’s Visit to Ipswich: Dissident 567 In Global Eden 570 Commonwealth Games: Peace Through War 572

III In the Humble Administrator’s Garden, Suzhou 574 In Shanghai’s New Manhattan 578 Among Yichang Museum’s Ming Treasures 580 In the Yangtze’s Three Gorges 581 At the Foot of Baoding Mountain 585 In People’s Hall Square, Chongqing 588 In the Hall of a Hundred Grasses, Chongqing 589 With Xi’an’s Terracotta Army 590 With the Tang Court Musicians 593 In the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong 594 In the Forbidden City, Beijing 597 In the Taoist Temple of Heaven, Beijing 599 In Cixi’s Summer Palace 601 At the Beijing Opera: Moving Boat 602 On the Great Wall of China 603 At Yongle’s Tomb, Changling 605 In the Jamestown Fort: The Discovery of Bartholomew Gosnold 606 On Iraq: Peace or War? 609 After the Iraq War: Reflections on the Fall of Baghdad 615 On Stansted’s Second Runway 619 In Egypt: Tyranny and Armageddon* 621

Book Four: The Western Universe Preface 633 I The Eclipse of Reason (Or: Totality)* 634 At Theydon Garnon Church 636 On the Order in the Universe 638 At Coombe House, Devon: A New Millennium 639 In North Tawton Churchyard 641 Wedding at Otley Hall 642 Hearing Aid: Retirement and Art 645 Accident 647 At the Bank’s Dinner at Grosvenor House: Turnover 648 Among Neanderthals 650 At the Employment Law Seminar: Law Like Old Age 651 At the Chingford Carol Service: Christian Religion 652 At Coopersale Hall’s Christmas Concert: Education 654 Among Brueghel’s Peasants: On the Artist as Truth-Teller 655 At the Start of a New Millennium, the Sun Rising against Aquarius 656 Blood Test: Anti-Phospholipids 659 Eclipse: Moon Drenched in Blood 660 At the Osteopath: Soul and Body 662 At St Andrew’s Church, Alexandra Palace 663 England Seen from the Bell 664 At 33,000 Feet: A Second from Death 665 At the Old Chigwellians’ Shrove-Tuesday Dinner 666 On Trilobites and Asteroids 668

II On Charlestown Pier: The Infinite Universe; The End of Materialism 670 At Hill Hall, Theydon Mount: Mind and Soul 672 At the Accountants’ Seminar: Businesses like Bodies 676 At the Eden Project: Paradise 677 Picasso Declassicising: Copying and Making 679 In Claybury Gym: Cult of the Body 682 Breathing Air: Mystery 684 At Ambresbury Banks, Epping 686 At Charlestown: Among Rock Pools 688 In Cornwall: A New Renaissance 689 In the Auction Room, Truro 693 In Addison’s Essex 694 At the Mansion House 696 At Worcester College, Oxford: Gaudy 697 At the British Library: Universalism is an Existentialism 700 At St Mary’s, Loughton: Christening 702 In my Body: President Soul 704 At Redbridge Magistrates Court 707 On the Film Set: Home Truths 710 Copped Hall Revisited 711 At Holly House 712 In Loughton, within Western Civilization 714 Home-making in Charlestown 716 At Brecon Cathedral 717 An Acre on the Moon* 720

III In Moonlit Charlestown: The Bright Shadow of Dark Energy 724 At the Prince Regent Budget Seminar: Advisers and Clients 727 In Jubilee London on May Day: Stability and Order 729 In Freiburg: Husserl and Heidegger 733 In Heidelberg’s Rosicrucian Castle 738 In Loughton, Impersonating 741 At Dickens’ House 744 At the London Independent Hospital, Whitechapel 745 Above Frankfurt: Brain and Soul 747 With the Grand Inquisitor, in Loughton 748 At Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge 750 At Harold’s Waltham Abbey 752 At Coopersale Hall: Founder’s Day 757 At Oaklands 761 Among Loughton’s Sacred Houses 764 The Tek Sing’s Cargo and the Sea 768 Among Life’s Structures in the West: Against Scientific Materialism 769 At St Ives 774 At Chigwell School 777 After the Pisan Arno 779 At Connaught House* 782

* See this poem for Book title.

Life Cycle and Other New Poems List of poems in Contents

Preface xv

Volume 31: Life Cycle Life Cycle 1

Volume 32: In Harmony with the Universe In Harmony with the Universe 19 The Ghadames Spring: Bubbles 22 Daisies 23 Crystals 24 Nightingale 24 Fragment: Question 25 Further Undated Unused Fragments for Overlord 26 Unused Draft for Overlord 36 Quarry 38 Terrorist 39 Two in One 39 Six-spot Burnets 40 House Martins 40 House Martins in the Eaves 40 Undated Unused Fragments for Armageddon 41 A Breathless Calm 43 Gigs, Insects 43 Daisies, Mower 43 At Great Milton Manor House: On Life and Death 44 Storm 47 Dripping Stars at Midnight 47 Leaves Falling 1 47 Skimming Stones 48 Concorde 48 Oak 48 A Wish for my Granddaughter 49 Snails 52 Grace 53 Bone 53 Near Teignmouth 54 Splashes of Light 54 Bronze Age 55 River, Headlong 56 Sky 56 Fragment: Rain 57 The Wheel of Creation 57 Fragment: Gold 61 Sunlight 61 Robin 62 Fragment, Where are my Friends 62 Magpie in Snow 62 Song Thrush Piping 63 Ladybird 64 Owl 65 Honey-bees 65 Spruce Cone 66 Song Thrush Dead 67 Skull 68 Gulls 68 Smile 69 Sun and Snow 69 Time 1 70 Time 2 70 Smiling Buttercups 70 Wind: Change 71 Buddleia: From Nothing to Form 71 Olympian 72 Sea, Sky: Whole View 72 Mist over the Sea 73 Downpour 73 Storm II 74 Squirrel 74 Squirrel’s Reply 74 Drowned 75 At Beverley Minster 75 Marble 77 Pirates: Question Mark 78 Looking Down: Not Bestriding 79 The Seven Hills of Loughton 79 Savage 80 Sun 80 Taking Wing 81 One’s Reflection 81 Unaware 82 Moonlight 82 Rain Hisses 82 Sea Bird 83 The Old in the Cold 83 Ruby 84 Discovery of Inflation: At One with the First Cause 84 Spring 86 Fading 86 White Hawthorn Blossom 87 The Wind’s Whistling 87 Discord: Humans who Drop 88 The Mild Wind’s Blow 88 A Blackbird’s Clear Piping 89 A Family Like Vases 89 Song Thrush 90 Mouse 91 Time, in Tiers 91 Parakeets 91 Poppies 92 Green Woodpecker 93 Brilliant Stars, Snapped Gravity 93 Founder’s Song 94 Blue Tit Chirping 95 Hooting Owl 95 Daffodils, Sunlight 96 Full Moon 96 Sheep 97 Horses 97 Dancing Light 98 Rainbow 98 Blackbird 99 Ridging Waves 99 Blushing Sky 99 Helsingor 100 Crown Prince’s Palace 100 Vikings 101 Ghost 101 At the Van Gogh Museum: Obscurity 102 Long-legged Fly 103 House Martins Darting 104 House Martins and Carnival 105 Storm, Surge 105 Force 105 Shooting Star 106 Meteorite 106 Heron 107 Spider 107 Bat 107 Moth 108 Stag 108 Carp, Goldfish 109 Box-Leaf Caterpillars 109 Red Moon 110 Blue Tit 111 Snowfields 112 Bay in Sun 112 Planetary Trio 113 Wind Whistles, Force 113 Golden Rose 114 Scudding Stars 114 In Gerard’s Herball: Snake’s-Head Fritillary 114 Sea Lights 118 Mist 118 At Connaught House: Weather-vane 119 Leaves Falling 2 121 Leaves Flutter 121 Return to Suffolk 122 Birds and Beasts: The Lament of Orpheus 124 Snake (Orpheus to Eurydice and Hades) 124 Ferris Wheel: Life Cycle 125 Muntjac 126 Stars, Waves 126 Rain 126 Sea Surges 127 Vein 127 Pied Wagtail 128 Time like the Sea 1 128 Time like the Sea 2 129 Goldfinch 129 Nuthatch 130 House Spider 130 Fox 131 Stag, Trapped 131 Epistle to King Harold II of Waltham Abbey and Loughton 132

Volume 33: An Unsung Laureate Pastoral Ode: Landslide, The End of Great Britain 137 Second Pastoral Ode: Landslide Unchanged, The End of England 145 In Westminster: The Passing of an Era 151 The Conquest of England 154 Lisbon Treaty: The End of Great Britain, Demise of a Nation-State 165 Zeus’s Emperor (A Mock-Heroic Poem) 169 Royal Wedding 190 Epistle to Gaddafi 197 Changelessness like a Fanfare: Trumpeting a Jubilee 200 Isles of Wonder 203 Ceremonial: On the End of a National Era, The Funeral of Margaret Thatcher 207 Reflections by the Mary Rose 211 The Lion and the Unicorn: Plebiscite in Scotland 216 Caliphate 221 Churchill 50 Years On: Great Briton 227 On Richard III: The Last Plantagenet 231 On Thomas Cromwell’s Ruthlessness 235 Enigma 236 Stability: On an Unlikely Conservative Election Victory 242 In St Petersburg: Thoughts in Hermitage 245 In Tallinn: Premonitions of War 250 Chaos in Iraq 252 Watcher and Two Carts 255 Oxford Bait 257 Symposium: Averting a Nuclear Winter 259 The Sorrows of Allah, The Nameless One 263 Thoughts on Syria: Rush to War 263 At Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church 266 Collapse of the Old Order 267 Epistle to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 270

Volume 34: Adventures in Paradise In Iran: Persian and Shiite Empires 277 In the Galapagos Islands: The Purpose of Evolution 281 In Peru: The Sun of the Incas 286 In Antarctica: In the Southern Ocean and our Ice Age 291 In North Norway: Arctic Circle and Northern Lights, Among Vikings and Altaics 296 The Way to Rome 299 On Hadrian’s Wall 310 India: Revisiting the British Raj 315 Delhi’s Red Fort Revisited: Paradise 338 Reflections in Arabia 340 Verses on the Death of Mr Nicholas Hagger 344

Indexes: Chronological Order of Poems 351 Chronological Order within Volumes 361 Index of Titles 371

Overlord List of books in Contents

Preface to One-Volume Edition of Overlord vii Prefaces to First-Edition Volumes of Overlord ix

Book 1 Eisenhower Invades 1 Book 2 The Tyrannicides Fail 67 Book 3 The German Army is Encircled and Routed 118 Book 4 The Allies are Repulsed 188 Book 5 The Jews Revolt and Stop the Holocaust 246 Book 6 Hitler Strikes Back 325 Book 7 The Triumvirate Divides the World 409 Book 8 Eisenhower Crosses the Rhine 505 Book 9 Stalin Closes in on Berlin 571 Book 10 The Fall of Berlin 638 Book 11 The Germans Surrender 735 Book 12 The Americans Drop the Atomic Bomb 820

Appendix The 25-Year Gestation and Birth of Overlord 933

Armageddon List of books in Contents

Useful Sources viii Preface xvii

Book 1 September 11th: America Under Attack 1 Book 2 The Syndicate Prepares For War 52 Book 3 Victory in Afghanistan 93 Book 4 Bush Visits the Underworld 141 Book 5 More War in Iraq 189 Book 6 The Sunni Insurgency 219 Book 7 Israel Fights Iran’s Proxies 254 Book 8 Bush’s Surge Pacifies Iraq 293 Book 9 Bush Rebuffs Israel and Prevents World War 341 Book 10 Israel and the Syndicate Strike Back 375 Book 11 Christ’s Difficult Second Coming 432 Book 12 Universal Order: A New Heaven and a New Earth 488

Historical Addenda 1. Timelines A. Historical Events 572 B. Mythical Events 580 2. Bin Laden’s/Al-Qaeda’s Historical Attempts to Acquire Weapons of Mass 582 Destruction and Unleash Armageddon in the US

Appendix 1. The 10-Year Gestation and Birth of Armageddon Extracts from Nicholas Hagger’s Diaries/Letters 596 2. Visits by Nicholas Hagger to Countries/Places Relevant to Armageddon 621 3. Maps that Throw Light on Areas of Armageddon: A. Caliphate 624 B. War Zones 626 C. Greater Israel/Greater Iran 629 D. Oil and Gas Pipelines 633

Collected Verse Plays List of verse plays in Contents

Preface to Collected Verse Plays 1 The Warlords 7 Preface to The Warlords, parts 1 and 2 16 The Warlords, Part One 20 The Warlords, Part Two 201 The Tragedy of Prince Tudor 325 Preface to the 1999 Edition 330 Preface to the 2007 Edition 332 Ovid Banished 471 Preface 475 The Rise of Oliver Cromwell 579 Preface 583 Appendix: The Warlords, Abridged Version 741

The Dream of Europa Contents

Preface: Masques and Europe xiii

Grouping of Nation-States xviii Positioning of Representatives xix

The Dream of Europa Prologue 3 Antimasque 7 Masque 17 Revels 49 Epilogue 71

Timeline: The Growth and Enlargement of Europe 75 Appendix 1. Groupings within Europe 83 2. The European Convention on Human Rights: Articles 1–19 95 3. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union 103 4. The Tree of European Civilization 118

King Charles the Wise Contents

Dramatis Personae ix Preface: A Court Masque and Universal Peace xi Engraving: The Genius of Literature presenting her pupils to Minerva xv

King Charles the Wise 1 Prologue 3 Antimasque 13 Masque 35 Revels 47 Epilogue 61

Timeline 65 Notes 67

Collected Short Stories List of short stories in Contents

A SPADE FRESH WITH MUD Part 1 A Spade Fresh with Mud A Spade Fresh with Mud 4 Antie Joone Said Moosic 5 Foreigners Apart 6 Home-made Marmalade and a Bonfire 7 Neck out to Sea 7 Limey 8 O’Hanlan’s Dream 8 Turf on a Tiled Laundry Floor 9 Dead Skin and Bone 11 A Crown of Thorns 11 A Prodigal and His Sneer 12 Angels in a Golden Light 13 A Rubber Man 13 People Like Masks 14 A Bullet-Proof Mask 16 The Tunnel 17 A Gun-Runner in Danger 18 A Thousand Feet and a Cage 18 The Need to Smash 19 An A-Bomb and a Knee 20 A Pink-Faced Ape, Minutes Like a Mutter 22 Dust and a Walled-in Queen 23 A Crag and Bursting Stars 23 Breath Smelling of Violets 24 Music in Running Water 25 A Shrine Under Sunset Point 26 Rainbow Trout 27 A Bottle of Anjou Wine 27 A Girl with a Twisted Hoop 28 A Gangway Boy in Love 29 An Orphan in Prison 29 A Soul Like a Blemished Nail 30 Dirt in a Bleeding Toe 30 A Wish and a Fear 32 Arabia and a Mortal Shell 32 A Puppy Like a Child 33 A Clay Griffin and Whirring Storks 34 Mosquitoes in a Bamboo-Grove 34 Like a Boil or a Mexican Vagina 35 Like an Exorcised Witch 36 Fils Under the Palms 36 A Hand in the Furnace 37 A Nervous Breakdown 38 A Bread-Knife and a Lima Brothel 39 A Rag-Doll with Open Knees 40 A Bathtub and a Falling Moon 41 A Kingdom and a Tear 41 A Monkey and a Peep-Seat 42 Rose-Petals and a Madonna Lily 43 Fluid on the Knee 43 Tarts and Burnt Letters 44 A Cuckoo in Casa Pupos 45 A Game and a Piece of Silver 46 Love Like Sennapods 46 Stool in a Bare Bar 46 Fire on the Water 47 Like the Sea at Low Tide 48 The Marquess and the Tram Standard 48 A Light in the Canteen 49 The Museum of the Revolution 50 The Man Who Wasn’t There 51 Crocodiles and Armadillos 52 Paraffin Paper and Steam 53 Lumps Under Snow 53 Flies and a Bedridden Wife 54 Blood and New Potatoes 55 Bleating Sheep 55 The Registrar and the Shrimp 57 A Camera Against a Dream 57 Far-Out Eyes in a Dream 58 Jewels of a Ruling Class 58 A Knuckleduster Mind 60 Is There a Rebel at the Lunch Table? 62 Sour Ground and Ashes 63 A Villa on Cap Ferrat 64 A Liar in Paris 64 A Barbiturate For a Bad Liver 65 A Sun Red and Orange 65 Monument to a Phoney 66 A Screw-Manufacturer in Business 72 Blue Movies and Skim Milk 72 ’Appiness for a Lady 74 Chickens Like Judges, and Goats 75 Goatbeard in a Calm Sea 75 Sweet Peas Along the Fence 76 A Sun Setting in Blood 77 Michelangelo and a Wheelchair Cross 78 A Palace in Orange and Blue 79 Bruegel and a Tibetan Hoopoe 79 Wet Rope on a Rubbish Dump 80 Yawns Under a Sepulchral Sky 80 Pipe-Clay Breeches and Geese 82 A Carafe and Magnified Eyes 82 The Man Who Liked Ugly Women 83 Veins and a Resurrected Body 84 Dignity Like Enamel 84 A Snake Round a Staff 85 Skewered Pheasants Under a Scarlet Knife 85 A Virgin and Burning Etna 86 Black Armband for a Teddy Bear 87 Death in the Spring 87

Part 2 A Roman in Barbary A Roman in Barbary 90 A Scarlet-Robed Bedouin and a Colossus 91 90A Wife Back on Campus 91 The Age and an Open Window 91 An Actor and a Plague Graveyard 92 A Buzzing Fly 92 A Town Like a Sullen Frown 94 A Dictator and a Hubbub 95 Libyans Are Very Strong on Morality 96 Walnut Over the Punjab 97 Strangers at the Pool 97 A Small Thing 98 A Spilt Drink and a Broom Trick 99 The Lawyers’ Room 100 A Character Like a Yacht 100 A Flat Like Twenty-Nine Parachute Jumps 101 Cactus Walls 102 Black Jack 102 Decadence Like Hitler 103

Part 3 The Portmellon Water Splash The Portmellon Water Splash 105 A Cloud of Snow and Arpège 105 A Rune-Man and a Heart 106 China Clay and a Plough 106 Crabs Like Tanks 107 A Sandbag Frog 107 A Pony Ride in the Films 108 A Ring and a Tidal Wave 108 Speakeasy 109 At the Gate 109 A Talent Like Diarrhoea 110 Bookshop Wine and a Piper 111 Freedom Over the Canal 112 Apricot Brandy 112 A Banger and a Black Eyepatch 113 Dynamite in the Clinic 113 A Green Light and a Carving Knife 114 Priests Like Veterans 114 Nemesis for a Lord 115 Rays in Brass Reeds 116 Spinney and a Roulette Pistol 117 Chinese Flies on a Mountain 117 A Knight at the Kiosk 118 Amaryllis and a Rainbow 119 Old Bill 119 A Programme on Zanzibar 120 A World of Cops and Robbers 121 The Little One 123 Uganda Crocodiles and a Parachute Drop 123 A Dream Like a Fishing-Lamp 124 A Has-Been in the Colony 125 A Standard in Cicero’s Club 126 A Shout From the Water 127 A Sulk Like a Blackened Sheet 128 A Thistle in the Cloverfield 128 Spun into Shape 129 A Bottlestopper for Mum 129 A Lake at Knole Park 131 Tea and Knickers for the Mob 131 A Beginning 132 An Ending 133 Wine-Tea and a Cap 133 Two Worlds in St Paul’s 134 A Sprig of Holly and Horse-Radish 135 A Friend Between Jobs 136 The Man Who Hated Commuting 136 Capitalism and Mr Bluett 137 The Headmaster (1) 137 The Headmaster (2) 138 The Headmaster (3) 138 Dust on the Pipes 138 Bantams Lay Eggs 139 Everlasting Flowers From Table Mountain 139 Disillusion 140 Tiles on the Bathroom Wall 140 Freedom Like a Broken Knot 141 Oak Like a Goldflake Mat 142 Essex People 142 Soft and Barmy 142 Advice to a Daughter (1) and (2) 143 Tree and Leaf 144 Idea Like Orange Soil 144 Laid Waste 144 Prawns in a Green Sea 145 The Cane and a Leather Chair 145 A Girl Like a Chest of Drawers 146 A Dream Like a Long Petalled Dress 147 Breasts Like Wine-Skins 147 Lights on the Christmas Trees 148 The American Girl and the Thief 148 A Delinquent (1) 149 A Delinquent (2) 150 A Pianist and his Flask 150 Napoleon and a Star of David 151 “I’m a Woman, I’m Liberated” 152 A Tartlet Among the Blacks 153 Composure 154 A Nightingale’s Song on a Plate 155 You’re So Vain 155 A Future Like a Mouse 156 A Vampire in the Coven 157 A Rate-Assessor and a Guillemot’s Egg 157 Underground Stream 158 Fire in an Inglenook Hearth 159 A Logbook and Blinking Auden 159 Ash in the Blood 160 A Hill-Woman Under the Stars 160 Cognacs and Mountain Air 160 Electricians Who Advertise 161 Exhibitionist on the Platform 161 Saltbeef Sandwiches and a Crouch 162 Brass Lamp and a West Indian 162 Veranda Better Than a Palace 163 Monty’s Butter and a Rosy Apple 163 The Sun 164 Pillar of the Community 164 A Shadow of the Man 165 White Hot Light and a Calm 165 Saké and the Meaning of Life 166 Oracle and a Dancing Moon 166 Froth Like a Pepsi 167 Petered Out 167 A Splash in the Water 168

A SMELL OF LEAVES AND SUMMER Part 1 A Smell of Leaves and Summer A Smell of Leaves and Summer 174 Castles in the Air 176 Radiator in the Snow 177 An Alternative Girl 178 This Is the Way the Term Ends 180 A Ring and Horizontal Bars 181 Horses Like Elves and Goblins 181 Waves Across the Hedge 182 As Spanish as Lasagne 183 A Duchess in the Sun 184 Decca and Blue Flowers 184 The Manageress and the Pigeons 185 Woodcutter’s Hut and Dolphin Square 185 Clubbing with Donald 186 Heart and Burning Night 188 A Vision in Winsor and Newton 189 Beehive and a Dahlia Horn 190 Cardboard Instead of Bread 190 A Partridge in a Pear Tree 192 Folks Stoned 193 A Gasman Conned 194 A Blind Will and a Blunder 196 A Feathered Witch-Doctor and a Stranded Crab 198 Twinkling Hubert and a Hypocrite 201 A Castle Like a Dazzling Girl 201 A Boutique Behind a Mask 202 Of the Cannibalism of Mice and Shrews and Voles 204 Tyranny and Bad Luck 205 Nemesis at the Extraordinary General Meeting 207 Crabbe Under Shingle 208 A Windmill and the Real Things 209 08.15 Horas and Fresh Fish 211 Flicking Fingers and Frayed Cloth 212 The Director Is an Idiot 213 A Mother in Action 215 The Buses Was Late 217 Friendship Like a Potato Crisp 217 Breaths Like Waves 218 Hoi Mate and the Water Music 218 Baby Belling 219 A Cherry-Blossomed Hell 220 Like a Burst Water-Main 221 A Standard Like a Fluttering Pound 221 Politeness Like a Split Canvas Chair 222 A Late Boy in the Sea 223 An Old Lady and a £40 Sack 223 Edward Thomas and the Swimming Gala 225 A Deck-Chair in the Sea 227 A Chanted Introduction and a Dig 228 Mean Time 230 Solitaire and a Nudge 231 A Harbour Creek and a Tiger Cowrie 233 Stone Cottages and a Teeming Sea 234 A Bonfire and a Village 234 Marinated Pilchards and Silver Lead 234 A Ladder and Quarrels at Church 235 A Christ in Hell 236 Like a Fish in a Storm-Tossed Sea 240 A Twelve-Year Dream and an Unsailed Boat 240 Lost Glasses and Clanging Seats 243 Shout to the Lord 243 A Nice Day for the Match and a Bottle of Optrex 245 Crying Eyes and a Nearly Perfect Rose 245 A Situation Like Nerve Gas 247 Three Cowherd Angels and a Cattle-Branding 249 Three Pure Chrysanthemums, or Faded Petals 253 Earth in the Way 257 April Fools and the Thirteenth Stream 258 Tattered Walls and a Gorgon’s Scream 259 A Wag in Lyonesse 261 A Deathly White Boy and a Pact 263

Part 2 The Clear, Shining Sunlight of Eternity The Clear, Shining Sunlight of Eternity 265 Bonhomie Like an Oxbridge Smile 266 Eternity Beside the Traffic Jam 268 A Bafflement Like a Netted Fish 268 A Mouse Under the Counter 269 A Body Fooled into Milk 270 A Zoo of Buffers 270 A Shemozzle and a Freudian Slip 271 An Orgy in the Churchyard 272 Two Smiling Buddhas and He Who Speaks 272 Spirits Up the Spine and a Bucketful of Stones 276 A Hanged Man’s Gift and a Mongol’s Eyes 278 A Cobweb Christ and a Feather Duster 280 An Eagle and a Basking Shark 281 A Sandcastle and a Sun-Kite 282 The Waters of the Ocean, the Upper Reaches of the Air 283 Caravan People and a Fun-Hat 284 A Buzzing Bluebottle and a Frozen Fish 285 Toy Planes and Doggies, and a Merry-Go-Round 286 The Little Life and a Mirroring High Self 287 Lad’s Love 288 A Grandfather Among Rastafarian Hats 289 Like Bricks on Sand 290 Soda Water and a Scallop Shell 292 People Like Us and a Sash-Cord 293 An Archangel and Personal Responsibility 294 A Clown and a Volcanic Eruption 295 Chairman’s Action and a Red-Eyed Comedy 295 A Spoon-Feeding Bully and a Pacifist 297 A Dotty Bard and a Cotton-Wool Ear 297 An Imperious Neo-Platonist, and a Genius’s Volume of Verse 298 Laughter in the Dark 299 A Stumble and a Slammed Phone 300 A Flash in the Chemistry Lab 302 Irish Fishing and a Hurried Grave 305 Anarchic Laughter in the System 306 An Exile in Noyna Road 306 Yes Please to a Peeling House 307 A Chile Badge and a Lanced Boil 308 White Cars, Black Hands 309 A Boast and a Provoked Fate 310 A Bleary-Eyed Look and a Belly-Laugh 311 A Bird’s Song and a Spreading Yew 312 A Poker Fork and a Bursting Bubble 313 One of God’s Chosen 313 French Howlers and Spilt Wine 314 The Ordinary in Pearly-King Clothes 315 A Piggy-Eyed Broker and a Conniving Smile 316 Alison Bush, Eighteen, Wants Proof 318 A Rolls Royce Day-Dream and a Naiad’s Chipped Nose 319 Subtle Bodies 321 The Mystery of the Great Pyramid 322 Across the Frontier 323 A Causeway of Light 325 Pinned Butterflies and African Carvings 326 Doorhandle for a Slammed Door 327 A Destiny in Hebrew Letters 328 Shahites in our Road 329 The Sweet Smell of Decay 330 Roles Like Fancy Dress 332 Providence Like a Retribution 332 Mixed Metaphors and a Diamond Light 333 Like the Smell of Fresh Beans 334 Loyalty Like a Company Label 335 White Globes and a Blood-Red Sun 337 Stagnant Eyes and a Vein 338 A Smile and Violent Streets 339 A Colonel in Civvy Street 340 Christmas-Tree Patterns on the Lunatic Fringe 341 Two Burps and Three Cheers 342 A Light on Dead Anemones 343 Stone Lions and Marble Veins 343 The Cold Heat of Alpha 345 Mulled Empire and a Hymn-Singing Flag-Planter 346 A Chauffeur for an Inspector 347 First Mate in the Coliseum 348 A Speaker Like a Hurricane 348 An Imperial Egoist and a Car Wallah 350 Afternoons Like Cinders 353 A Tide in the Cellar 353 A Run-Away’s Stone and a Four-Knight Door 354 Loud Voices and the Long Silence of Christendom 356 A Pompous Fool and River Jordan Water 357 Mr Rubin’s Fortune 358 A Red in the Surgery 359 Governors Like Bowlers 360 Another Place 361 A Canon in his Dream House 361 Silk Apple-Blossom and Dried Greengages 362 Frothy Weirs and a Rising Sun 364 The Curtain Pulled Aside and Gamma Rays 366

WHEELING BATS AND A HARVEST MOON Part 1 Wheeling Bats and a Harvest Moon Wheeling Bats and a Harvest Moon 372 Angry Old Man 372 A Garden Like Paradise 373 Long Decline 374 Newts and Hooting Owls 374 Gas ’Em 375 A Police Horse and Ball-Bearings 375 A Fat Devil Punctured 376 A Pope with Unseeing Eyes 377 An Imperious Voice in Casualty 377 A Lift Home on Ice 378 A Roman Coin and a Chipped Vase 378 A Rationalist and Wrinkled Boobs 379 A Sick Wife and a Spanking Drive 380 Two Boys and a Heaving Sea 381 A Yellow Trail and Fixed Stars 381 Set Books Like Trees 382 Pushy Humphrey 382 Rich Girls Deprived of Cuddles 383 A Plaster Leg and Changed Clothes 383 Smashed Windows and a Smashed Soul 384 Opposites Reconciled 385 An Area Like a Score 385 Boopity-Boo 386 Arabian Nights and Unruly Boys 387 Eighteen Americans and the Coffee Envelope 387 Chaplain at a Distasteful School 388 Red Arrows and a Clowning Band 388 Rainbow Spray and Drenched Cheeks 389 A Monkfish with Pennies 390 Like a Donkey Refusing to Go 390 MPs Off Stage 391 As Daft as a Brain of Britain 391 Sinful Violet and a Pussy Death 392 Disloyalty in the Hutch 392 Crumbling Walls and a Cracked Mansion 393 A Celebration and Black Eyes 393 Red-Faced Mr Murdstone 394 An Angel and James the First 394 A Dying Order 395 The Boiling and the Cool Calm 396 A Camp of Branches and Twigs 396 Chains of Light 396 A Meeting Like a Dancing Display 397 A Cane Up Your Sleeve 398 Trust House and Listed Buildings 398 Kick From a Live Wire 399 A Summery Childhood and Skimming Hosannahs 399 Breakwaters Against the Rising Tide 400 State Schools Day at Cambridge 400 King of Marbles 401 Hello Sweetheart 402 Dried Flowers and a Lonely Flat 402 Starting Work Dead on Time 403 A White Fur and a Screaming Motorbike 403 A Swashbuckling Bully and a Clown’s Umbrella 404 Red Nose and White Face 405 A Witch and a Snake 406 Diarrhoea and a Decorating Daddy 406 A Far-Away Kiss and a Struck-Off’s Fallen Woman 406 Bleeding Eyes and Mountain Air 407 Vagueness Like a Wall 407 A Liar at the Greengrocer’s 408 The Host and a Cracked Jug 409 A Pleasant Sin Bin, All Right? 409 409 Apple-Warmth and Lonely Stars 411 Sun Spots and a Black Hole 411 A Bearded Trot and a Blind Eye 412 The Able Child 413 Frizer’s Reckoning and a Gay Eavesdropper 414 Elizabeth’s Clock and an Empty Place 414 A Buckinghamshire Mill and a Sleeping Partner 415 A Cottage and a Treadmill 416 A Torn Off Toe-Nail and an Unmoved Car 416 A Second Helping and a Raincoat 417 Two Widows and Bald Boyfriends 417 A Honeymoon and an Echo 418 A Traffic Warden in Church 419 Lost Keys and a Bosomy Girl 419 A Prussian Head and a Saved Ovary 420 Miss Hochberg in Auschwitz 421 A Redhead on Drugs 421 A Dancer and Belief 422 Sculptured Poses and the Noes Door 422 Elderberry and Rose-Hip Wine 423 A Councillor and Ephemeral Catcalls 424 A Damned Angel 424 Revelation 425 “Well, Actually Betty’s Dead” 425 I am a Liberal 426 Champagne and Flat Beer 426 Past Like a Blood-Scarlet Coat 428 Three Hundred a Week and a Soft Touch 428 A Major-Domo in Church 429 A Mind Like Junk City 430 V-Sign and an Emptiness 430 Cargo Boat and All-Heal 431 A Superhuman Height and a Grazed Ankle 431 A Castle Away From Hordes 432 Reality Like Scudding Clouds 433 Floral Dance 433 A Chalice Well and Phallic Tor 433 Eyes Under Brambles 434 A Scallop and a Nipple 435 A Small Ego and the Rent Act 435 An Idol and his Grandchildren 436 Day-Dream 437 Women’s Lib and a Dame 438 Fête and a Record Token 438 Advent and a Magnifying Glass 439 A Temple-Maiden and Ramesses the Second 439 A Boat of Jesuit Priests and a Mist 440 Landscaped Rock and a Splashing Waterfall 441

Part 2 The Sweet, Fresh Mountain Air The Sweet, Fresh Mountain Air 444 A Forest Celebration and a Broken-Down Motor 444 An Eighteenth-Century Silence and a Hard-Headed Vicar 445 Like a Hand Gripping a Broom Held From a Lifeboat 446 Sporting in the Wind 446 Persecuting Planes and a Presidential Decree 447 Sandfly Fever and a Crescent Moon 447 A Superior Lady in the Corridor 448 A Wasp on the Window 448 The Head Has Sind 449 Church Plaques and a Feudal Mask 449 Temple Bar and Michaelmas Daisies 450 A Bridge on a Tongue 451 A Marxist and Powder Paint 451 A Rose in a Jar 452 A Patriot in Trinidad 453 Hell: Pronouns with 1W5 453 A Fire in the Waste-Paper Basket 454 A Fire in the Boiler-House 455 Like a Sun Behind a Cloud 455 A Snapped Leg and Caritas 456 Shoes in Bed and a Grotto 457 Sorrel Under the Greenhouse 457 A Yob in the Boardroom 458 Brotherhood in Horseferry Road 459 A Free Lift and a Punishing Kiss 460 A Cigarette-Girl Smoking in Class 461 A Stick Over the Privet Hedge 461 Southampton and a Figgy Curse 462 A Tattooed Sisyphus and a Regal Sofa 462 An Ink-Stained Finger with Gold Earrings 463 Like a Beached Shark 463 Corinthian Columns and a Gold Chain 464 A Crown of Polished Moments 465 An ‘I’-Hood and a Eurhythmic Angel 466 The Petit Mal and Singabel 467 A Head at Home 468 Bandaged Legs and a Jute Skipping-Rope 468 An Audience with Eric 469 A Toast and a Conga-ing Housemistress 470 The Flooring of the Hierarchy 471 A Federalist Vision and Bile 472 The Virgin Islands and Closed Eyes 473 Like Natterjack Toadspawn 474 Diving for a Ball 474 A Dream Like a Paradisal Garden 475 Starving Beggars and a Knuckle Touch 476 When I Spit in Your Face 477 477 A Tie in His Tea 477 Amphitheatre and Lost Keys 478 Seething with Ideas 479 A Fish-Hook and an Anchor 479 The Fisherman and the Restaurant Heiress 481 Like a Bent Lamppost 482 Nightingales in a Stone Forest 483 The Bride and a Forgotten Joint 484 The Major and the Concert Pianist 487 A Flat Like Territory 489 A Contraction and Drumming Fingers 490 Yobbos and a Mechanical Digger 491 Tin-Mine Chimney at Land’s End 492 The Ad Hoc Man 492 A Lover in the Labyrinth 493 The Silver Age 494 A Widow and Leather Regalia 494 The Shooting of Miss Long Multiplication 494 A Pony and a Husband 495 An Engagement Like Lemon Parfait 495 A Wedding Like a Performance 496 A Boiling Kettle and 40 lbs of Sugar 498 A Death Like a New Start 499 Prayer Like Drill 499 Wedding and a Karl-Marx Badge 500 A Green MG for a Nymphomaniac 500 A Rattling Bucket and Crouching Brushwood 501 Stillness and a Sheep’s Baa 501 A Kernel in Kew Gardens 502 Is There a Monster Around? 502 Shetland Jumpers 503 A Still Sea 504 A Shell and Tiny Violets 504 Hands Held in the Dark 504 Calm in a Moss-Hut 505 God Like a Misty Mountain 505 A Hooded Falcon and Droppings 506 Mrs. Humble 507 The Bugging of Auntie 507 Hands Off the Strawberries 508 In the Harbour 509 Wine and a Kiss 509 An Air Stewardess on Champagne 510 A Retiring Person 511 Wasps and Wogs 511 A Bee-Keeper and Forest Bark 512 The Squire Is a Darwinian 513 Coughing and an Accepted Calvary 513

THE WARM GLOW OF THE MONASTERY COURTYARD Part 1 The Warm Glow of the Monastery Courtyard The Warm Glow of the Monastery Courtyard 518 A Mournful Driver and a Busload of Idiots 521 A Twitcher in Florida 522 A Decorator and a Bruised Leg 523 The Blind Leading the Sick 523 Intercession for a Rejected Priest 524 In Memoriam a Tradition 525 A Stroke Victim and a Priory 526 A Home Secretary and Real Leaves 526 A Gardener Goes into the Fire 527 A Goalie and the Soul 528 A Brooding Chairman in Lent 529 A Grandfather and an Au Pair 530 Bats Round a Head 530 A Chairman and a Shuffling Zombie 531 A Mongolian Requiem 532 A Professor and Washing-up 532 Chimney Smoke and Red Eyes 533 A Dying Lady and a Tired Daughter 534 A Broken Pillar and a Spire 534 A Hesychast at the Craft Fair 535 The Wilderness and the Deceived 535 Two Unemployed at the School Reunion 536 Cannon-and-Mortar Fire and Washing 537 A Megastar Without Clothes 538 The President and a Bruised Leg 539 A Revolutionary and a Jumping Girl 540 A Belt in his Mind 540 As Raw as Cut-off Fingers 541 A Boat-Burner Taken Down a Peg 541 Paralysed Arm and Loving Cats 542 Men of Straw 543 A Rat and Agoraphobia 543 Ageless Stables and the Age 545 An Arsehole Full of Praise 545 A Late Teacher and Gas 546 A Diviner Among her Crystals 546 A Burning Ankh and a Temple-Dancer’s Hands 547 An Orthodox Dream and a Farmhouse 548 A Well-Steered Boat and the Rocks 549 A Bearded Osteopath and a Wreck 550 A Brig and a Nelson 551 A Misplaced Person in the Hungarian Castle 552 Four-leafed Clover and a Kiss 553 A Shy Angel and a Fossil 554 The Heart of Old Hungary 554 Rock Music and an Austro-Hungarian Fob-Watch 556 Attention and a Wish 557 A Slovakian Hungarian and Two Ruskies 558 An Organic Architect in his Work 559 A Taxi-Ride and Red Lips 560 A Hostess and a Hero 561 A Portrait and a Jacket 562 A Shy Treasurer and her Diary 562 A Life at an End 563 An Unofficial Guide 563 A Tree and Chipping Axes 564 Cole Confused 565 The Pax at Twilight 565 White Hair and Black Hands 566 A Chain for a Chain 566 Run Aground 567 Feet on the Ground 568 Three Deaths and an Old Carpet 569 Aladdin’s Cave and a Disgruntled Look 569 A Birthmark on her Brain 570 A Doctor and Frustration 571 Fire-Escape 571 A Soul Like a Secret Garden 572 Light Among the Professionals 572 A Sunburst in St Martin’s 573 Tombstones and a Good-looking Explorer 574 A Game Like a Flicked Marble 575 A Kick and a Cuckolded Security Man 575 Bones and Metal 576 Spilt Yoghurt and Pilferred Cash 577 A Toenail and a Censorious Inspector 577 A Kneeling Old Lady at Intercessions 578 Animal Fat and an Encrusted Bowl 579 A Stench of Depravity 579 Swag Under the Seat 580 A Policeman’s Helmet on the Goalpost 580 An Eclipse Within the Mind 580 Bleeding Feet and Shining Eyes 581 A Lion and Clacking Sticks 581 A Headless Statue in Nettles 582 Love Like a Cheek-Warming Log-Burner 583 A Soul Like Ripe Grain 583

Part 2 A Sea with Potted Crabs A Sea with Potted Crabs 586 Emmet-Hunters 588 A Beautiful Harbour and an Unennobling Mess 589 A Nightingale in an Indifferent Crowd 590 Condemned Cell 591 Leaves From a Horse-Chestnut 592 A Chunk of Rock with a Fossil in It 594 Grey-Haired Masters and Roots 595 Principles Like Medals 596 Bacon, Eggs, Sausage and Tomato 597 Italiano 597 An Engineer and a Chancellor 599 A Browning in Belsen 599 D-Day and a Missed Reveille 600 Mulberries Like Meccano 600 A Tasmanian in Normandy 601 A Retreat and a Grave 601 A Quicklime Commandant and No Interview 602 The Night’s a Pup 602 Shouted Drinks and a French Barmaid 603 A Closed Ladies and Shredded Cigarettes 604 A Graveside Speech and Fallen Comrades 604 One Coin in the Fountain 605 A Smoker and a Hospital 605 A Skater at the Bar 606 Bottled Water 606 The NAAFI and Small Bowls 607 A Philosopher’s Words and a Perfect Rose 608 Knowledge 608 Blue Tits and a Still Post 608 Like Twisted Balloons 609 A Beast in Chambers 609 A Canon’s Image and a Bushel 609 Plenty 610 Melancholia in the Fort 611 A Prussian in Potsdam 612 A Stamp-Seller and a Broken Willow 613 Grubs in the Amber 613 A Polish Girl in Luck 614 A Bullfinch in the Roses 614 No, No and a Crucifix-Paradise 615 Providence and a Balloon 616 A Police Car Across the Road 617 A Chipped Grand Piano 618 Exquisite Design and a Maker 618 Ry-bald Comments and a Lost Cheque 618 An Important Star and a Fossil-Lady 620 A Storm and Waving Arms 622 Sea Men in a Hurricane 622 A Dream-Boat and Too Much Red Wine 623 Cloudy Wine and a Mafia Bride 624 Des-ie and a Broken Glass 624 An Irishman on Tour 625 Uniformity Like a Dinner-Jacket 626 Carp-Fishing and Skewered Kebab 628 Hide and Seek 628 A Total-Immersion Font and a White Hart 630 A Country Cousin Surprised 631 An Internee and Dribbled Chocolate 631 The Lady Who Sat Upstairs 632 A Tower and Cobwebs Like Fishermen’s Nets 634 A Conductor and a Methodist Choir 634 Twenty-Five Years Like a Banquet 636 Ten Thousand Visitors and Quality of Life 637 A Bar-Mitzvah and a Sword 638 A Caged Spiffler on Crag Path 640 A Golden Touch and Bad Luck 641 Wooden Carvings and Stunning Women 643 Hand Up in Church 643 A Ghost at Lord’s 644 A Drowning and Tugged Apron-Strings 646 A Jumping Darts Champion and an Exploding Camera 647 A Tumoured Fit at Finishing-School 648 A Ten-Year-Old Horror and Chloroform 649 A Clothes-Line and Tea 650 A Wrong Date and a Grrrrr 650 Tudor Carvings and a Water-Trough 652 A Broken Arm and Flickering Lights 653 Prancing Truth-Tellers at the Globe 654 Ancestors and a Mizmaze 656 Emptiness and a Pure Spirit 657 Darling Geese and a Painful Lung 658 A Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Watch and an Emptied Safe 659 A Misographer and a Cheese Scone 659 Nutty Among the Tarrers 660 A Silver Goblet and Anorexia 661 Grey Geese and Primroses 663 Wedding Guests and a Photograph 663 Morphine and Tears 664 A Still Orange-looking Sea and Blue Sky 666 Past for the Best 668

IN THE BRILLIANT AUTUMN SUNSHINE Part 1 In the Brilliant Autumn Sunshine In the Brilliant Autumn Sunshine, Among a Thousand Islands 674 A Medieval Quay and a Broken-down Helicopter 678 A Fisherman and a Jacaranda Spray 680 A Shipping-Clerk in the Media 681 Pavilion Door and Home Dressing-Room 681 A Stable Block and a Barn Owl 682 Black Squirrels and a Water-Pistol 683 A Packer in Trouble 684 A Beauty in Bed 685 An Irishman Saved by the Lord 685 Moon-Craters and Trotting Horses 687 An Indian and Mauritius 689 A Cabbie and Retirement 689 A Yellow Waistcoat and a Mistress 690 A Wedding and a Burial 691 Two Metres Down Inside a Male Imperialist 693 Living for Ever 694 Riches and an Ejected Husband 694 A Swagger Destroyed 695 A Russian Girl and a Credit Card 696 Confiscated Passports and High Noon 697 A Magisterial Sixty-Five-Year-Old and Leap Year 699 A Wedding in Barbados 700 Silly Work and Important People 701 A Stonking Cancan and a Strutting Jagger 701 Tootleloo, Mr Tootleloo 702 An Idealist in Paradise 702 A Sharp Businessman and the Kray Twins 703 American Might and Little Englanders 704 A Still Statue and a Begging Bowl 706 Walking on From the Harbour 707 A Crowd and a Photo-Shoot 709 A Dead Pipistrelle and Blown-Up Skyscrapers 710 A Shuffling Colonel Amid Ghosts 711 A Shawl and Scooped Water 713 An Old Lady Hit by the Side of a Stationary Car 714 A Bentley as a Statement 716 An Apology Like a Minuet 716 A Paradise and Crowds 717 A Firelit Family and Sailing Snow 719 A Peeved Lord Lieutenant and His Sword 719 A Spectre at the Old Boys’ Feast 721 A Cattle Barn and a Nice Politician 722 A Charter and a Letter 724 A Jarred Piano and a Daubed Atmosphere 724 Pain Behind a Glass Barrier 725 Day-Dream on Stone Stairs 726 A Laid-Back Driving Instructor and a Fiery Sicilian 726 A Topsy-Turvy Mayor and Upside-Down Badges 727 Miss Clean in the News 728 A Hairdresser’s Philosophy 729 A Philosopher and the Wheel of Fortune 730 Aquitaine Wine and Retreating English 731 A Sombre Cherry Tree and Sunflowers 732 Capering Morris Dancers and a Galliard 733 Colonial Dames and a Colonial Letter 734 Morning Post 735 Timebound by the Timeless Black Forest 735 Disappointment Like a Climber’s Eye 736 A Soaring Eagle and Trout-Fishing 737 Spiralling Up to Truth 738 Six Splashes on a Sleeve 739 In the American Ambassador’s Back Garden 740 A Blood Test and Paralysed Lungs 741 Red Roses and Marigolds’ Nectar 742 A Pulled Face and a Magpie 743 A Cornishman and Two Dead Sons 745 A Sallow Octogenarian and a Slow Ambulance 746 Family Photos and a Home-Made Car 747 Snail Shells and Rat Runs 749 Rainbow Trout and Crown Jewels 750 An Abervan Boy and Mud-Brick Floors 750 A Boat Race and a Puffed Pipe 751 A Red Guard and his Red Clipboard 751 A Tyrant and a Lie 752 A Dragon on the Hill 753 Yellow 123 and a Vanishing Coin 754 A Tearaway and his Head 755 A Punjabi and Tax Returns 756 A Magdalene and her Mission 757 A Retirement Package for a Carer 757 A Happy Head and Hell 758 A Corporate Man and a Toe-Poke 759 Party Hats and a Stroke 760 An Albatross Round an Ex-Seaman’s Neck 761 Eerie Presences and an Eroding Force 762 A Burial and White Gloves 762 A Rose and a Divorce 763 Petals Like Snowflakes 764 A Manageress Up all Night 765 Kicked-Over Flowers and a Poodle 766 An Illusionist in his Transparent Box 767 A Loose Screw and Autographs 769 Torchless Dark and Doodle-bugs 769 Closed Eyes and a Bright Light 771 A Basket and a Pill 772 Two Tie-Pins in Chapel 774 White Socks and a Night-Light 776 Crushed Fingers and Burnt Scones 777 A Red-Robed Mayor and an Ad-libbed Speech 777 Fish Round Two Wrecks 778 Like a Scratched Freshwater Pearl 780 Thick Brown Sand Round the Toes 781 A Mud-Bath and Cleopatra’s Milk 782 A Cab-Driver and a Killing 783 A Boyhood Hero Among Handbags 784 A Honeymoon in the Sun 785 Pots Out of the East 786 A Foxglove and Cellotaped Brown Paper 787 A Mouse in the Mower 789 A Christmas Card and a Last Post 790 A Rabbit and Four Prunes 791 Iron Bells and Steam Engines 792 A Cockroach Among the Palms 793 Steam-Cleaning the Patio 793 A Gold Heart and Five Pounds 794 Ovens in Use 795 A Bread Basket on Fire 796 A Vanished Mother and a Broken Gate 797 Love Like a Well-Ironed Shirt 798 Bluebells Between Souls 798

Part 2 New-Mown Grass New-Mown Grass 802 A Question and a Cremation 803 Glasgow Knee and a Wrench 804 Tablets and Alcohol 804 Everest and Whoo-Whoo-Whoos 805 Soldier in the Wild 806 Two Kilns and a Sung Bowl 807 Coincidence 808 Like Curls of Planed Wood 809 An Estonian in Dagenham 810 A Working-Class Shopkeeper and a Privileged Patrician 811 Huge Buildings for a New Renaissance 813 A Guest of Her Friend 814 An Old Soldier and Mandalay 815 A Secret Place and a Chambered Cabinet 815 Thirty Pounds for a Gypsy 816 Like a Stone Blocking a Pipe 817 Snot Like Ribbons and a Neurotic 819 Cargo Boats and Stars 819 Fortitude Like a Navy Pullover 820 A Rift and a Spiral Stair 821 A Skeleton Under a Church Floor 822 Stuck in a Ditch 824 A Balcony and a Reconciliation 824 Bracken Round the Bell 825 Quails’ Eggs and Celery 825 A Dishwasher and Red-Hot Words 826 A Gaunt Face and an Auction Catalogue 826 Black Bags and a Stoat 827 Christmas Lights and a Shower Room 828 A Coffin and a Ladybird 829 A Toasting and a Roasting 830 Blown-Off Hands and a Finger at Twelve O’Clock 832 Cocaine and High Fences 833 A Quiz and Rubber Gloves 834 Rice-Paper and Rommel’s Mind 835 A Treaty and Anti-Germans 836 Stones and Tanks 837 A Dyslexic and a Falcon 838 Caicos and a Window-Ledge 839 A Wheelchair and Cleaned Windows 839 A Lighthouse and a Surprise 840 A Simnel Cake and Judas 841 A Bed Surrounded by Papers 841 A Folding Board and Rent 842 A Shrill “Shut Up” and Shambles 843 Clouded Ways and a Green Prospect 845 A Painter and a Dream House 846 A Glassed Eye and Nothing 846 A Model and Scowls 847 An Etching and the Old World 848 A Collage and Iced Cake 848 A House-Move and Venetian Blinds 849 An Old Lady’s Rings and a Window-cleaner’s Boy 850 Hadrian’s Wall and a Muslim State 851 A Speech and Twin Haircuts 852 Black Lion and a Cellar 853 Three Mitres and Three Papal Tiaras 854 An Indian Potentate and a Closed-Down Club 856 Horror After the Rave 857 Bible Readings and a Sacked Guide 858 A Baronial Hall and an Overlooked House 859 Flawless Stones and Flawed Taste 860 A Lighthouse and Deceit 861 An Unanswered Name and Bowing Parents 861 An Awesome Queen and Umbrella-ed Flunkeys 862 A Carer and a Career 865 A Turban and Two-Hour Poppyfields 866 Scallops and Limoncello 866 Culture Bearing and War 867 A Quarrel and a Prime Minister 868 A Carer and a Birth 869 A Puzzle Ring and Gerontius’s Soul 870 Rescue of a Screaming Girl 871 A Calm Cottage and Carnage 872 Grasshoppers and Blown Sand 872 A Bull’s Eye and a Shadow 873 A Ladder and a Tumour 875 Notice and a Wheel 875 A Carnival and Reality 876 Fireworks and the One 877 Seven Riding on the Mare 878 Stone Rows and the One 880 A Shell House and Plunging Gorges 882 Daubenton’s Bats and the One 883 Brain Tumours and a Portuguese House 885 A Changed Ball and Western Rules 885 A Study Like a Bittern-Hide 888 A Splashing Sea and a Rodded Drain 889 Noisy Youths in a Seaside Village 889 Like Crabs and Shrimps 890 Sea, Land and the One 891 A Trident or a Turnip 892 Jafaican and Esperanto 893 Eternal Silence and Ticking Time 894 Fossilised Chivalry and Unknightly Yobbery 894 Shadow and Sun 896 New Bungalows and Oak Trees 897 A Bat Like a Soul 899 The Moon and Butterfly Sandwiches 900 Kingfishers, Crassula and the One 901 A Fountain of Light 903 Exhausted 904 Paralysed Bodies and the One 906 A Dance of Death and the Dance of Life 907 A Thousand Selves and the One 908 Arabian Nights and Rosicrucian Invisibility 908 A Footprint and Universal Light 909 The Secret of the Desert 911

Epilogue The Thousand-and-First Kannon and a Dance of Death 913

The First Dazzling Chill of Winter List of short stories in Contents

Part One The First Dazzling Chill of Winter The First Dazzling Chill of Winter 3 A Dapper Man 8 A Corpulent Barber and an Angry Son 10 A Roundabout and a Crashed Life 11 A Rickety Stepladder and a Dreamer’s Chaise Longue 14 A Leaving Party at the Osteopath’s 15 Wild Boar 17 A Plane on the House 19 A Nurse and a Bleeding Consultant 20 The Moors’ Paradise and a Sigh 22 A 1399 Home and Dolphins 24 An Angry Old Man in a Passing Order 25 As Unyielding as a Slab of Granite 27 A Black-Out and Table Tennis 29 Nemesis in Naples 32 A College and Cowboys 34 Noah’s Pageant 35 A Chapel on the Bend 35 Two Silver Jugs on a Tray 37 A Backward Boy and Mining 39 Grouted Boulders and Encroaching Waves 40 A Turkish Palace and a Smirk 42 The Landlord and the Pie 44 A Brother at the Window 47 Maestros and Managers 49 Fromages pour les enfants 51 A Parakeet in our Garden 52 Cranes and a Natterjack Toad 58 A Hospice Donor and a ‘Pompous Twit’ 60 A Candle and a Squashed Mince Pie 63 Gold and a Grumbling Undertaker 64 A Tray and an Offhand Vicar 65 Lycoris Buries her Friends 67 A Family Skeleton 69 Treasure in Heaven 70 A Coffin like a Packed-Away Christmas Tree 71 A Mute Question 75 Teeth and an Outside Water-Supply 77 Two Backpackers and a Film 79 An Owl Handler out in the Cold 80 Thirty Dogs and Forty Tortoises Downstairs 83 A Buzz and an Iron Axe Head 83 A Last Glimpse of Childhood 84 Cobwebs in a Storeroom 86 Tea in the Museum 88 A Suntan and Blue Jokes 89 A Gutted House and Far-Away Eyes 92 Spilt Wine and Mersea Island 93 A Hip and a Rebuff 95 Critical and Early 99 Christmas Day and a Grandchild 100 A Headache and a Locum 101 A Broken Hand and a Thunderous Look 102 A Brown Envelope and a Bach Fugue 103 Two Vines and a Nonagenarian 104 A Herkimer Diamond like a Milestone 106 Flat Battery 107 Chocolate Curls and Chunks 108 A Hornets’ Nest and Folded Clothes 109 A Bulgarian Kick and a Line Dance 112 A Warm Log Burner and a Latch-Pinned Door 114 Black Sheep Like Pets 116 A Wheelchair and Bible-Reading 116 A Singing and Murder 119 The Maître D’ and a Submarine 122 Encomiums and Imperial Purple 123 A Mask and Five Plasters 124 An Electioneering Widow and a Splashed Carpet 129 Wisteria and Hot Stones 134 A Chimney and Christmas 137 Leaves and Nectar 140 A Clockman and Cuba 142 Strangers and Friends 144 An Athlete and a Monk 146 Hazelnuts on a Keyboard 148 A Captain and a Baha’i 150 Gentle Mr Grayling and a Blurt 153 Missionaries like Wind Turbines 158 A Wheelchair and Stony Hill 160 A Working Harbour and a Dream 164 Veiling Cheeks and a Wimple 166 An Elagabalus Coin and a Yacht 168 A Funeral and an Isolated Mourner 173 Fines and Spills 175 Glittering Gold off the Black Head 176 A Sore Point 179 Missionaries like Zealous Carol Singers 181 Caviare and a Rat 184 Like Four Spikes after a Storm 187 A Berber in Civilization 189 A Turk and Shariah 191 A Trolley and Stress 192 A Grab-Rail and Birdsong 193 A Silence and a Bulging Stomach 196 Fits and a Bath 199 A Swimmer and a Medal 203 A Stiff Upper Lip 205 Wounds like Carrots 205 A Peregrine like a Chained Soul 207 Paper Boats and Kettles 208

Part Two In the Early Evening Sunshine In the Early Evening Sunshine 213 “Huh, huh” and a Waved Sole 216 Bluster and Bluff 217 Leather Gloves and Bat Bags 220 A Ninety-Year-Old Cricketer and Rows 222 Twinning and a Rodeo 225 A Ruin and a Boudoir 228 A Hedge, Green and Brown 229 Partridge and a Tomb 232 Bruises and Pickle 237 A Lost Ruby and a God 240 Galaxies and God 241 Champagne and Order 242 A Tooth and Cholesterol 247 A Heart and a Blind Eye 249 A Bandage and Narghiles 252 Strokes and a Dying Order 254 The One Like a Hidden Sun 256 Blood Clots and Nylons 257 A Tray in her Lap 260 A Russian Invasion and a Defiant Estonian 262 A Colonel in Tears 264 A Chapel and a Bath 271 An Ache and a Beach 272 A Message from God 273 A Providential Sale 275 Truth Like a Clattering Crash 277 A Foot in the Door 281 An Evangelical Tone and a Trick 284 Fortune’s Wheel 286 A Wheel and an Allotment 288 A Pancreas and a Quiz 290 Roots and a Shock 291 An Afghan and Refugees 293 A Minute and Eternity 295 A Fall and a Physio 296 Of Mice and Muscles 297 A Disguise like a Stove-Pipe Hat 298 Prosecco in Artillery Lane 301 An X-ray and Chaos 305 Pilgrims and Lorries 306 Horror amid the Camaraderie 308 Limp Mode and Full Power 312 Cramp and a Dazzling Christmas Tree 314 A Slip and Empty Days 316 A Travel Plan and a Helicopter 317 Box-Leaf Caterpillars and Nature’s Plan 318 Histrionics and Mould 320 A Chauffeur and the Death Seat 326 Earth Floors by the Loire 328 A Queue and a Lord 329 A Crossword and Alaska 330 Window-Dressing and Make-Believe 331 Stabbings and Mushrooms 333 A Walk and a Shut-Down 335 Double Vision and Strokes 335 A Fox and Bites 336 Incas and Doodlebugs 338 A Wrench and Dignity 338 Scarlet Blood and Lost Letters 339 The Sun and Icarus 340 A Vicar and a Nephew 341 A Vicar and Autism 343 A Stark Reality and Three Hundred Dreams 344 A Sandblaster and Beautifying Tracery 345 Lake Garda and Chaos 346 A Blank and a Back 347 A Transplant and a Claw 350 A Fall in a Home 351 Shopping Bags and Tragedy 351 A Wedding and a Fall 352 Stunted Toes and a Joined-Up Head 353 A Chef and a Backhand Cut 354 A Toenail and Torture 355 Four Bereavements and a Tortured Life 357 Collapsed Veins and a Deer 357 Disarmament and a KGB Man 360 Menelaos and Ancient Stones 362 A Church and a Pension 363 A Scheme and a Petard 364 A Red Universe like the One 367 Angels in Gloom 367 A Room and a Deed 370 Pasties by the Lighthouse 371 Ninety like a Buddha 373 Boxes into Store 374 Quality like Blueberry Cheesecake 377 A Funeral like a Dress Rehearsal 378 Slumped Passengers and a Dark Tunnel 382 A Twitch like a Wink 383 A Widow and Ashes 385 Shadow on the Cliff 387 A Swept Desk and Green Grass 388 Sheep and Screens 391 Myriad Splashes and Stars 392 An Uneven Path and a Clock Tower 393 A Coffee and a Cosmic Plan 394 Haunting Images and an Exorcism 396 A Stag and Wire-Cutters 398 A Wildlife Garden and the One 399 Silence and a Green Curtain 401

Indexes: Dates of Stories 403 Index of Titles 411

The Last Tourist in Iran List of chapters in Contents

1. Behind the Negative Image 1 2. In Early Iranian and Revolutionary Tehran 10 3. Among Pilgrims and Sufis in Shiraz 35 4. Back with the Achaemenians, our Source 50 5. In Desert Yazd, Among Zoroastrians 85 6. Isfahan’s Safavid Beauty 112 7. In Husaynieh and Nuclear Natanz 137 8. With the Qajars in Desert Kashan 155 9. The Holy Imams of Qom 164 10. Among the Medes and Persians of Hamadan 186 11. With the Shah and Khomeini in Tehran 200 12. The Pattern in the Persian Carpet 218

Appendix: Iranian Dynasties 240 Map of Iran showing Nicholas Hagger’s Route 258 Map of Shia Populations 259 Bibliography 260

The Libyan Revolution List of chapters in Contents

Preface ix

Part One The End of the Old Regime 1. Pro-Western Tripoli 3 2. The Decadence of a Dying Order 21

Part Two The Revolution and its Aims 3. The 1969 Coup 43 4. Gaddafi’s Anti-Western Measures: Growing Extremism 59

Part Three The Achievements of the Revolution 5. Growing Terror and Isolation: 1971–1980 93 6. Terrorism and Nuclear Weapons, 1981–2001 111 7. Returning to the International Fold and Disarmament, 2002–2009 127

Timeline 142

Appendix Portrait of Western Libya Catching the Libyan Atmosphere and Western Links 155 Tripoli Castle: Two Caramanlis 157 Suk Al-Jum’a: Camels and Volkswagen Nomads 160 Our Lady of Garian and the Troglodyte Wife 165 Tripoli’s Old City: The Old British Consulate and the Baker 171 Leptis: Septimius Severus and the Medallioned Groom 176 Sabratha: Flavius Tullus and the Mosaic-Maker 183 Two Amphitheatres: Beasts and a Thracian Gladiator 191 Tripoli’s Old City: A Tarbooshed Merchant, a Sandalled Plague-Bearer 200 New Tripoli: A Ghaffir with Italian Medals, 45s in an Oilman’s Car 206 Miss Tully’s Story of Yusef Caramanli 211 The Shar’a Shatt Fort: Battleships and a Rope Sling 219 The Intrepid: Decatur’s Fireship, a Seaman with a Knotted Scarf 223 Djerba: Lotus and Skewered Lamb 228 Viper’s Valley: A Legend which Came True? The James Halifax Story 232 Casino: Wheel and a Rippling Jaw 237 Focus on the Amphitheatres of Leptis and Sabratha: The Whereabouts of the Beast-Pens and the Gladiator Prison 240 Tripoli: Old and New under a Blue Sky 244 London: Merrie Dandies and a Blind Piper 247 Palestine: The Arab Case in Britain 251 London: Traditional, Modern, Underground, Pop, the Cultural Scene 256 Libyan-British Relations 261 Provincial France: Grey Blinds, Baroque Statues, Frenchness 268 Libyans Show Solidarity with the Revolutionary Command Council 273 Old Regimes 275 Libya’s Young Puritans 279 Libya under its Colonel from the Desert 283 Dates of Articles 287

Notes and References to Sources 289

Bibliography 295