Geoffrey Hill(b. 1932)

VII ("Gasholders, russet among fields. Milldams, marlpools")

Gasholders, russet a m o n g fields. Milldams, marlpools6

that lay unstirring. Eel-swarms. Coagulations of

frogs; once, with branches and half-bricks, he

battered a ditchful; then sidled away from the

stillness and silence.

Ceolred7 w a s his friend and r e m a i n e d so, even after

the day of the lost fighter: a biplane, already

obsolete and irreplaceable, two i n c h e s of heavy

s n u b silver. C e o l r e d let it spin through a hole

in the classroom-floorboards, softly, into the

rat droppings a n d coins.

After s c h o o l h e lured Ceolred, w h o w a s sniggering

with fright, d o w n to the old quarries, and flayed

him. T h e n , leaving Ceolred, he j o u r n e y e d for hours,

c a l m and alone, in his private derelict sandlorry

named Albion.8