Norfolk Coast Path 

                  Sunday

             Norfolk winds

Lashing rain and blinding hail;

       Brashness of sunlight.

Teacakes with Elizabeth to get us on our way

Before late lunch in Ely, with time enough to stray

Into the Cathedral where St Etheldreda lies

And Mary hovers over us with strange vacant eyes.

Lady Chapel

Above the altar

Bathed in light

The architect did not intend

The figure

Jars the softness of the stone

With starkness.

The shattered void

Remnant of Cromwell's wrecking crews

Has no point of calm,

No human heart.

Only an ambivalence in blue

Where painted breasts

And vacant eyes

Await the snakes' return

To resurrect the Goddess

From the blinded Theotokos.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 11.4.24