christopher marlowe – Page 2

Wordspiller (for Christopher Marlowe)

So you are the spiller of words, almost
as far from me as
Beowulf is to you.

Wordspiller, your crosspose outstands me,
but I backthink
the falling choirs where you sadwalked

your summerwaiting mind, to
when your glories were mere
airthought,

like the Greathallow who once
shorestepped there
to see for himself

your forliving Angles (he oncebethought
angels) and their saxon King
Ethelbert redeemed to newspells that

you mindweighed as truthless.
Now I meet your clearstead gaze; for
the muse which stretchfed you

has not alleaten you yet

poem © copyright david f. barker 2012

Corpus Christi
(for Kit Marlowe)

A voice calls from across the cold centuries,
a harsh whisper in my ear.

There is merit in what he says,
enduring years of indoctrination,

speaking out against that which bore him.
The town of empty palaces, of inordinate wealth,

forcing him to re-position,
to consider the advocacy of freedom,

though mere anarchy in the eyes of the state.
But wait, before you all condemn,

just as a spy must provoke and take a stance,
so a playwright may also be a player.

Does he ask, ‘what kind of world could this be?
What pure lives might we lead?’

If only we could accept the sight before us –
the corruptible body of Christ.

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