Centuries Apart ~ One Conversation
The Escarpment to the Cotswolds overlooking Cheltenham

The Escarpment to the Cotswolds overlooking Cheltenham ~ known, locally, as Cleeve Cloud

This is the striding pinnacle of the Escarpment to the Cotswolds of England that gives way to the Severn Vale, the Vale of Tewkebury and the Vale of Evesham, as one sees in the distance, in the opposite direction, Leckhampton Hill, that buttress behind which the lands roll steeply beyond into Southern Gloucestershire and on to Somersetshire, with Warwickshire to its left. KTW

I

Do tell me, pray,

why you do walk this lane this day?

 

 You talk with me?
Or are you talking merely to thin air?


No, I speak with you,

as you stand clearly in my way!

 

What? You’ve had too much Ale
and it’s not even Noon!

Look around you then.

What things beyond do we agree to see?

 

Hey! Step aside.

You’re drunk.

Allow me to continue along my way.
I’ve things to do,

and I bore quickly with you

re-enactment bods!

 (wide-eyed wonderment)

But how can I, in God’s Name?

Surely, you abandon not both man and horse?

 

What do you speak?
What horse?
Are you mad?
Do you play?
Go on. Get away!
Now!!

 

Please! Do not jest!

See, the skyline! Help me to move her …

 

What skyline you fool?

Move who?

There are children up there playing the fool

 

Do you not see?

Is the battle raging still beyond your vision?

 

For God’s sake, mate

You’ve lost the plot

Get away with you!

It’s only eleven and already you’re

as pissed as a fart!

 

In an instant, centuries apart

two souls envisioned the skyline

one with children playing

the same skyline

the other, insurrection, death,

A very civil war

on the escarpment beyond Cleeve Hill




Look, she is gone!

We rode full haste at gallop from Worcester

She has breathed her last

I have this message for Sudeley

Can you help me?




You on drugs?

You civil war re-enactment twats

just lose the plot …




What by Jove

dost thou Speak?

Re-enactment?

Plot?

Mate?

Do you jest my good wife, you scoundrel?


Men have died this day

And more will die

by tomorrow’s noonday

in Winchcomb




And what, pray, is the

peculiar garb you wear?

If I did not think it foolish

and witches’ stuff

I’d think you were from another age!



II

Look! May be this might help.

My card.




What?

Your Calling card?

Why is Winchcomb wrongly spelled?

What is this vowel ‘e’ added?

What, this peculiar print?




And what is this Portcullis

beneath a Crown?

We Parliamentarians

have routed the royalists!

And these letters

E.R

If I did not take you to be a fool

I’ d say the R dost symbolise Regin’


III


Along pause
Two ages each eyeing the other
each pondering, wondering
Modernity assumes an uneasy calm

You are right my friend

I will not explain

Suffice to say

Elizabeth Regina

Yes, the Parliamentarians

hold the day

But in your lifetime

count twelve years on

and you will see The Lord Protector

seen on his way

The Commons shall remain




We are betwixt times




You go that way

I will go this way

Tell no one of this conversation

But observe to your life’s end

history in the making

and you will indeed perceive

a glimpse of times

that sit aside each other




Sudeley will fall

I am not at liberty to

be what your times call

fortune-telling and witchcraft



I am sorry about your Destrier

Good day, sir


The Roundhead soldier
watched aghast
speechless

At Life’s end
Upon his bed …
a glimpse of another age

At Life’s end
upon his bed, too,
a glimpse of a former age

Hello my good friend


A gentle smile
Young now


Goodness!
Is it time?

Aye, Ken, it is

Your Destrier?

Aye, the Mare’s grand
She’s waiting
We’ll ride out together
cross Gallops
down into Winchomb


Really?
Winchcombe?
Oh that would be marvellous
I was a bit short with you that day


Haha!
How were you to know?
Have no fear
They’re all waiting
Family, Friends, Dogs galore …
and, yes, best of all,
your Destrier
La Roche

Come now
Take my hand
Relax
To Winchcomb and Winchcombe
we will ride

Self riding La Roche (affectionately called Rokka) on the Escarpment to the Cotswolds, Cleeve Hill above Cheltenham in 1973 ...Aggs Hill before heading to the Gallops KTW

Kenneth Thomas Webb
Liverpool


October 24, 2021
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© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021


One of the Fifteen Founding Members of Leaders Lodge



Composed February 26, 2020



Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.

He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.

Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.

In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.