Love Poem

[cidermaid]

After first reading I thought :- Nicely understated title, nothing trite or soppy in here. The narrator is expressing a deeply held affection for… But then I had to work out who the “she” & “you” represented before I could even have a go at working out what the love was represented by.
Sorry but as much as I love the read and the emotion you inject in this I was all over the place with working out what it means.
As an overview – I thought that this was a poem lamenting what we (the Uk / Christians) lost in the reformation, in terms of colour and expression of emotion in our faith, and then again deeper still (a desire of the heart torn by love), to have the one true church (The Holy Catholic apostolic church…the simplicity of faith before it was torn apart by splits and schisms. This in tern, came about and is still outworking, because of the divide caused by those who hold with the person, work and equal authority of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the God head, and those who don’t, who prefer the spirit of the law. (but then see also note at end of notes)
I got very confused as I tried to work out the meaning of your poem, I might be totally at odds with what you were thinking when you wrote this. (That’s just me for you – I don’t need drugs or alcohol to be off with the fairies!)
Basically I loved this poem for itself just as a read; I found that I did not need to understand the finer nuances of meaning to feel the emotion of pain, separation and desire. I thought it had a hauntingly beautiful touch of sadness brushed throughout that made the expression of love seem all the more real. I have read it through several times just because I like it so much.

I’m not sure I want to work as hard as I have, to untangle the meaning of a poem. (But having said that I love and value it even more for the gems I have found in my excavations!) I appreciate that as the first commentator I might be unmasking myself as a fool and everyone else will say “fancy not knowing or seeing that”; meanwhile back in planet ciderland, the fool needs to work this out, so I’ve done my best to give a line by line of where your words take my thoughts and I will await any other comments with interest to see what I have missed.

She is like the churches of my ancestors: A historical figure that the narrator is offering a love lament for. The Church reference at this stage, makes me thing of something solid and enduring.
pointed, ornate and Christian, Pretty and to be admired and yet also untouchable (because of the points). At this point I’m not sure if the Christian is a individual (historical) person remembered or a collective reference to people of faith. (Re- Church/es)
divorced from the Pagan and Greek,
whose droppings are still smeared
across our English towns. An emotion of disgust, distance and contempt for anything pre-christian. Sense of affection for “English town”
Ok so although I’m not sure at this stage who the “she” is (English architecture, or faith perhaps). She is pre-reformation, post pre-Christian and has a English Identity or association.


She is Pugin's dream: Pugin – Ok research time to find out the reference to the “dream”. I had to check it was not some female infatuation that I was missing. Sadly nothing as salacious as that: This is what I dug up - English architect, artist and designer, 1812–1852. Remembered for his passionate, pioneering role in the Gothic Revival designs. He was architect for many churches and is perhaps most noted for his interior re-design on the palace of Westminster. He hated the sterile church of his upbringing (Scottish Presbyterian) – he preferred the bells and smells version (His dream – a pre-reformation England). From these I put a spiritual overlay of his ideals and got:-
Pugin believed the good in a society was reflected in the architecture of a period in society; the better the architecture the better the society and thus as he thought that gothic / medieval architecture was the best architecture, he therefore felt that the medieval age was the better than that which he lived in and that we should try and re-create this period. (starting with the architecture). From a spiritual viewpoint, this translated itself into good works within a society and his faith was based on the efforts made by individuals in a society to “improve” their society. This good works was then naturally outworks through faith within the confines of the establish church, which in turn became the focus of his efforts for good works in his designs.



restored as a tribute to You, Strongest indicator that God is the “You” (capital Y) But as Pugin is most celebrated for his work at Westminster, this therefore could be taken as a representation of the law and anti – church led faith movement. (It could also therefore be suggestive of anti Holy Spirit, therefore anti supreme God, and thus pro- the “new and approved” government sponsored law of faith, as represented by Westminster – as established by the roundheads and thus protestants). …or are we talking about Queen Victoria! – Victoria’s tower, (at one end and Elisabeth’s at the other with the spire in the middle) was in its day the tallest tower and was built as a tribute to the towering significance of her reign.
(It’s all getting very confused in Ciderland!)

an ancient door leading back to the times (See what I mean…confused you will be!) …Or, is this the Papish door to a of form of governance that would set itself up as supreme ruler to rule and reign over the subjects as near God. (and historically has been largely against the Holy Spirit) as represented by the Catholic Church.
before the Protestants cried out, But at least I've definably identified that It is definatly a catholic narrative voice who is anti protestant…
forcing us into a spiritual desert. …for their brutal paths that led to sterile faith as represented by the spiritual desert. (a echo Pugin’s childhood experiences of faith).



I'd rather be tortured in a Catholic hell The pain and sadness of the sense of separation comes through.
than live forever in this secular Sodom, secular = government so anti government perhaps. But def anti post reformation faith and as such anti protestant. I read this as a distress of the co-habiting of faith and secular to the point where the two are indistinguishable. (as in the next line where the face of the beloved has been removed)
if You would let me see her face
carved on a brimstone spire. I read as a remark against the sense of anti Catholic emotion in the nation – let me live in Catholic hell (as awful as I understand it to be) and perhaps see my beloveds face carved on the (in your opinion) “brimstone” inspired designs of our spires, rather than face another homogenised, sterile day in your protestant, law filled land.

Grace dances through her eyes Now my problems increase in the final two stanzas. How do I tie up grace to a tortured martyr. Grace is a gift, to be myrtered is an obedience (out of love). Also is the grace in / because of, the person whose eyes it is working through or is this a picture of grace (as a gift of the Holy spirit) at work in a larger sense. As in the grace of the person and life work of queen Victoria – or is this the collective grace upon the church as worked out in the good works of faith.
like a tortured martyr.
When I saw her last - sheltered by a giant tree, Oh no! There is another thing I can’t get a hold of. What or who is the tree representing. The tree of faith from which the church (holy) has been birthed. A representation of the government / law. Both of these have branches and reach to shelter. (Oh and she has now been taken from view – dead or a missing person
cradling a book as she read half-aloud, Completely lost here, cradling as in giving birth to. The word of God, the ordinances of the law of the land or she as in Victoria who is nurturing the newly emergant spiritual and undustrial age of new growth.
her lips miming each word, Hang on, whilst sheltering the heroine is only paying lip service to the benefits of the tree.
and her sun-coloured hair
caught in a cage of lace - ? these two lines = architectural features of Westminster or a physical likeness to Victoria’s hair in a lace bun...or some other as yet unidentified personality
I wanted the grace in those eyes
to work a heavenly violence upon me. ! What heavenly violence, that of the soul in that you wish you could join the ranks of the martyrs or you fancy a bit of sm (perhaps whilst tied to a tree!)…sorry I think I’m loosing it.

If she'd stood and turned around The elements of the meaning are lost because I am still unable to define who the key charicters in the poem are to represent. If faith, the law or queen Victoria had …
her gaze, focusing intensity
to a rapier's point, ? am I back to contemplations of the finer points of the architecture of Westminster or the cutting edge of Victoria’s tongue or the blade of the law.
would have set that tree on fire. That blasted tree again – it would appear that the tree represents a bad thing that is deserving of being burnt..except that “she” was sheltering under it at one point or is this some other tree of the narrators desire of his loves personality, that is to be set aflame with passion?
Together we'd have witnessed Who? Because i'm down to the last lines and i still havn't worked out who the main players are :-God / the law / and the narrator, or the love, Victoria, faith and the narrator
a hundred birds exit, These birds?…who are they then. Perhaps the rest of the people in the church or the nation, or even politicians that exit when they have been found out. (in the flames of scandal)
while each branch blackening Ok yep something to understand it is The branches of the organisation / group under discussion.( whoever that might be)
became a testament to Your voice, Lost again; is this the “you” voice as in God’s voice or the “she” voice as in….one of the many I could choose from. It's begining to feel like a multiple choice poem
and I'd have never seen
such a beautiful arson. The tree was set on fire deliberatly!, both the narrator and the loved wanted the tree burnt down...I don't understand!

(Is this poem some obscure reference to the film about the tree of life…supposedly to represent a Catholic family – I don’t know I’m reduced to wild guessing – but having just found a reference to it in my searching to discover that the mother is the avatar of Grace personified and the young man, (who happens to be an architect), is oppressed and angered by his fathers’ faith. The theological heart of the film is that both nature and grace are part of his providential design of God. Perhaps I have found the link and a tie up between Catholicism, a tree and some woman or other ...so it would appear that this poem needs a link for me to watch the film or I should at least read the film reviews before I can access the meaning, because without this knowledge I was completly lost. Ps the film reviews were actually quite humorous and derisive in their panning of the film)

This poem is a definate near hit for me. I found the subject gripped me and I quite enjoyed the journey that all my research took me on..but really poetry should not be this hard in my book. I hope you do some edits on this as I do really like it a lot even as it is.

Hope this long ramble will give you some insight into where your readers might need a little help
All the best AJ.