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).