| Lady of Title | Lunatic |
(From the 1871 Census entry for Harriet Mordaunt
at Manor Farm House Private Lunatic Asylum, Chiswick.)
Who shall come to see me shrouded?
If I am coffined before death
who shall hear my muffled cry?
My mind is my memento mori.
It paces out the walled-up day.
1 2 3 4 5 6 and turn.
Yesterday the ash lost its leaves.
Its branches pitchfork a purple storm
which has forsaken widow’s weeds.
The birds are glittering scissors.
Clouds tear. All gone. The sky is calm.
1 2 3 4 5 6 move on.
Chiswick lies beyond my window,
denied to me. My charcoal world
is drawn by shadows in this room.
At night I see old lives unfurl.
Shot white ponies on the lawn,
like alabaster. 1 2 3
1 2 3 – – 123
123456 Turn! Turn!
© Karen J. McDonnell