An English Pub

emptypot

Through the lime green tree tunnels

The road funnels only the lost and the knowing

Flowing along the lanes with old given names

Into this hidden sceptered isle

This country mile

This jewel

 

This Royal Oak

Ales, tales and the noise of folk

Jokes and overheard mumbling

Tumbling into the evening air

From the head cracking low door

Over beer soaked hardwood floor

 

 

Time trickles slow

 

And what they know is strange

While change upon change; their world stays the same

Full of walkers, talkers, strangers and neighbours

 

 

From the garden, by the stream

I dream that Kipling, Blake and Belloc wandered here

To cheer their muse, to de-confuse

And I hope when Kitchener called upon the local lambs

Those luckless lads’ fond memories were of supping upon a draught

When they raised their glass and laughed their last

 

  • Author: emptypot (Offline Offline)
  • Published: July 16th, 2020 15:18
  • Comment from author about the poem: I fell into another world when I discovered this pub in Sussex (hence the reference to Belloc, Blake and Kipling). Sadly the pub is now closed and so it was a brief moment in time that I was lucky enough to experience. The last verse might seem a little incongruous but the poem was written around 2013/14 and there was a very deep and sombre feeling in the country about the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WW1 and I was drawn into the pathetic nature of the naΓ―ve optimism of the young conscripts.
  • Category: Unclassified
  • Views: 17
  • User favorite of this poem: MendedFences27.
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Comments3

  • MendedFences27

    Is this the one in Poynings?
    I think your poem describes it well, but so many have those same features. Now I'm hoping for a pint of Harvey's.
    Loved how you wove in the literary and military callings. Loved it.- Phil A.

  • Goldfinch60

    Those pubs were a haven for folk in the past. Good write.

    Welcome to MPS.

  • ANGELA & BRIAN

    BRIAN HERE ~ GOOD MORNING *EMPTY POT^ Welcome to MPS it is an excellent proactive site ! Thanks for your first Poem *Ode to An English Pub* - great choice now that LOCKDOWN is partially lifted. A excellent Poem and an apt name *The Royal Oak* ~ Royalty & our National Tree !
    Love the nostalgia (V 2) and it is indeed (V 3) a turbulant World ~ but some Pubs defied time. V 4 is haunted by Literary Ghosts & the Ghosts of all those Young Men ~ sacrificed on the Altar of WW1. Dulce et Decorum est ~ Pro Patria Mori ? Please check our site ~ Thanks A & B !

    Peace ~ Love & Joy
    Brain & Angela πŸ’›πŸ’›πŸ’›



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