I. About a Stranger
A Russian man interviewed
In a documentary,
Filmed along the Yenisei
From its sources in Altai
Three thousand miles to the sea,
Has stayed in my mind for days.
He told a lonely story
Abandoned on an island
In the lower Yenisei.
He had no-one bar his dog
But he had something to say
About the vast indifference
Of nature in the frozen waste,
Of his masters faraway.
Who knows how his life ended?
Maybe the spring flood water
Washed him and his dog away.
II. In Memory of a Friend
Among the sadness and grief
For an unexpected death:
Our gossips lopped off part way.
III. Political Polarities
The small but many people,
Easily twisted and taught
To misplace their frustration
On the colour of strangers
And the beliefs of others,
Are the ones whose lives get spent
In the latest experiment
By their heroic leaders,
Convinced of their right to rule,
Always secretly afraid
The mob will remember
How to add up the numbers.
Rulers draw dividing lines:
‘Here’s the new map, the new creed,
This is how we now believe.
Listen to our new story.’
IV. On the Ebb Tide of History
The war dead, the famished dead,
The unnecessary dead
May be counted fortunate
By those living in despair,
Old certainties in shreds,
Watching how the lies are spread.
V. In Search of Better
We all live wrapped in stories,
The ones we tell and are told:
Mother Hubbard’s cupboard’s bare,
The president has no clothes:
The ones no-one dares mention
Except the daft old woman
Cast up on alien shores
Howling with the winds of change,
‘Accept the necessity
For breakdown, chaos and loss
Of redundant connections.
Melt into the crucible,
Shelter in the chrysalis.
Re-forge, reform kinder dreams.
From the grey mess of ashes,
The phoenix will surely rise.
New stories must build new worlds.’
Morven Ash
March 2017