Tuesday, April 7, 2015

David Subacchi- Three Poems


RIFLE IN NEVADA

In an age of terror
Bathed by bloodshed
A Winchester rifle
From 1882 is discovered
Leaning against a tree
In the State of Nevada

It appears beyond doubt
That this discarded weapon
Has remained here unnoticed
For a century or more
Because it’s rotting wood
Blended with the tree trunk

And so a life of silence
Surrounded by rural peace
Has been this weapon’s fate
Never fired in anger
Nor aimed at anyone
From its hidden position

Now too old to be loaded
With deadly ammunition
It will be placed on display
A symbol of gentle survival
In the violent world
That we all live in today.


BATTLEFIELD
(Battle of Shrewsbury 21 July 1403)

A field of peas
trampled by flailing hooves
stained with warrior blood
fertilising already red soil
Shropshire land
pierced by arrows
violated by blades
of broken swords

Now a railway divides
the place where they fought
but the horror of Hotspur’s fall
is still louder than the trains rattle
and a church no longer
open for public worship
stands eerily above a pit
where tangled bodies lie
yearning for revenge
like parched roots
struggling for water.


WHERE THE TRUTH LIES

They only knew it was William Ward’s body
Captain of the SS Rio De Janerio
Inbound from Hong Kong
By the gold watch chain
Entangled in his rib cage

Washed up in July 1902
Over a year after his ship
Struck submerged rocks
In a deadly dense fog
Attempting to enter San Francisco Bay

128 out of 210 passengers died
Mostly immigrants from Japan and China
And the sinking took only 10 minutes
Launching lifeboats was difficult
The American officers spoke no Chinese

Iron hulled, steam powered
Launched in 1878
Her belly ripped open by the collision
The Titanic of the Golden Gate
Historians later named her

Now they have found her remains
In 287 feet of water buried in mud
But the few blurred images
Tell us little of what really happened
Or where exactly the truth lies.




David Subacchi studied at the University of Liverpool.  He was born in Wales of Italian roots and writes in both English, Welsh and Italian.   Cestrian Press has published two collections of his poems. ‘First Cut’ (2012) and ‘Hiding in Shadows’ (2014).

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