Chereads / Dances, Towers, Hills and Skies - Poems / Chapter 21 - 21 - Three Spires

Chapter 21 - 21 - Three Spires

At this point on

the second day of

May;

Three spires lie at points on

the horizon:

The ashes on Allenby Square will

conceal the second spire before the

month is out,

But for now, I see them;

First,

Second,

And the Third surprise:

Nearest and easternmost,

the spire and tower of

St. Oswald's,

Seen so often yet visited but once.

Next and poking above a chimney,

the spire of St. John the Baptist on

West Derby Road:

Visible only from Ash-fall in late October:

To Ash-rise in Spring.

Furthest,

And the biggest surprise;

The miniature spire of the

South Chapel;

Nestled between the Towers of

Fish-Meat and Old Hospital;

Yet in the Sphere of the Two

football grounds.

A third tower lies also to

the North;

One like a mini version of

the old hospital tower but with

a clock face.

It too was once a hospital,

But lies in the realm of Walton rather

than Newsham;

And,

during the time of the monolith,

one of the few

structures that could be spied whether in

winter or summer.

Three Spires;

Three Towers;

Two Hospitals;

Three Churches.

The horizon has broadened to points

unimaginable.