The Landau

The Landau

A Poem by David Lewis Paget

The winter fogs roll in from the Thames

While frost forms up on the eaves,

The damp will settle in aching bones,

While the trees are bereft of leaves;

The streets were stark in the old East End

A footfall echoed and died,

And nights when the homes were shuttered in

They listened to wheels outside.

 

A Landau, black as the devil’s sin

And drawn by a single horse,

Rolled slowly up to The Black Dog Inn

By the side of the watercourse,

When out there came from the bawdy house

In black from her head to tail,

A dollymop with a nosegay,

Wearing a bonnet, black, with a veil.

 

She’d climb up into the Landau while

The coachman, clad in a cloak,

Would give one flick with the reins,

And pull on the bit ‘til the horse had choked,

He’d take them off with a clatter

Wheels a-rattle on cobblestones,

His eyes agleam like a demon

While he whipped the horse to the bone.

 

The horse’s hooves on the cobbles

Warned ahead through the fog and mist,

As people cowered in doorways

Shouted a curse as the Landau passed,

They followed the glow of the gaslamps

Shedding their weak and feeble light,

And raced by the mighty river

Into the dark of the endless night.

 

They came to a halt at Wapping

Down where the river cast its spawn,

The bodies of dead and drowned who’d

Cursed their mothers for being born,

And hung on poles at the river’s edge

Was another terrible sight,

The bodies of sailor mutineers

That swung in their chains at night.

 

Hung on the Tyburn gallows

Then cut down and shackled again,

The bodies were coated with tallow

For a post mortem hanging in chain,

They’d bind them up with a winding cloth

Then coat them again in tar,

Hang them in chains at the riverside

‘Til their dust blew near and far.

 

The woman climbed out of the Landau

Took one look, and fell to her knees,

Her lover hung gently swaying,

Swaying in time to the river breeze,

His eyes stared out from the candle wax

And his mouth was shaped in an ‘Oh!’

He seemed to be saying, ‘Goodbye, my love;

What a terrible way to go!’

 

She wept like a woman demented,

Seized his legs, and pulled to her breast,

Clung to his swinging figure

Moaned like a creature, quite obsessed,

She tried transferring her warmth to him

But his cold was the cold of death,

And his eyes stared straight ahead of him

No thoughts, no love, no breath!

 

She climbed back into the Landau

As the coachman whipped it away,

And often at night they hear it go,

Those folks down Wapping way,

They say it spattered a stream of blood

On the road as it raced on by,

From the dollymop who’d slashed her throat

And lay in the coach to die.

 

And when there’s a mighty river fog

In the winter, down by the Thames,

They sit in the Inn they call Black Dog

And they drink to the health of friends,

They drink to the ones who’ve gone before

As they hear the wheels outside,

And hold their breath at the emptiness

As the door is opened wide!

 

David Lewis Paget

© 2012 David Lewis Paget


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Featured Review

Dave this one is the best .I loved it The wording the cadence it sings like the sorrow it entails.What a tale! This is another in line with the carousel and Lightning Jack it is the type of story i have come to expect and herald as only from you.I could read anything of yours and immediately know it was from you.But this is at the top with the previously mentioned and the great eastern . Absolute immortality will be yours with the likes of this congratulations ten stars and a snap for this!!! I will send immediately out to all.

Posted 11 Years Ago


3 of 3 people found this review constructive.




Reviews

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Pax
dark and very creative... and enjoyable read!!!
a facinating write...

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Love this, David. This is among the best story-tell poetry that I have read. I enjoy the darkness, the sing-song rhyme.. and I love how easily I could picture everything by your wonderful descriptions. I also enjoyed the archaic language. Excellent work! A big thanks goes to Tate Morgan for introducing me to your work.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

How interesting and creative! It's a story in a poem, very well written too. Great imagery.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

The Black Dog Inn sounds like a place I would have liked to have tried. With all the modern conveniences of course. Very spooky story for a spooky time of year.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

What I noticed particularly was the gruesome fate of those sailors...horrible...and orrible for a woman to know her love died that way...

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Chock full of wisdom that not too many in life acquire or will ever possess. Your words express such deep thinking and RESPECT to you.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Fantastic..i am putting this in favorites..You know how I am crazy about England and its history..I can almost picture this whole poem in my mind.. The one thing about England that I always wondered about was why they pronounced the River
Thames as tems..You are an English man..where did that pronounciation come from?
I do not think I will ever tire of your writing..you are the best..love and God bless Lyn and you and the rest of the family..Kathie

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

David Lewis Paget

11 Years Ago

Regards pronunciation, English is a mongrel language at the best of times; why are 'bow' and 'bough'.. read more
Leigh

11 Years Ago

Yes more anomalies than conventions - I agree
i think....no, i know! that Edgar Allen Poe and H P Lovecraft would both be envious of this masterfully penned creation of spellbinding, resonant prose.
it is a shame, in my heart and mind, that great poets are seldom, if ever
given the praise and infamy they so deserve while they are living. this should be
published and given the distinction and honor it deserves. fabulous and mind blowing write!!!

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Dave this one is the best .I loved it The wording the cadence it sings like the sorrow it entails.What a tale! This is another in line with the carousel and Lightning Jack it is the type of story i have come to expect and herald as only from you.I could read anything of yours and immediately know it was from you.But this is at the top with the previously mentioned and the great eastern . Absolute immortality will be yours with the likes of this congratulations ten stars and a snap for this!!! I will send immediately out to all.

Posted 11 Years Ago


3 of 3 people found this review constructive.

Gruesome David to the max. Still feeling the trembling in my bones.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.


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3020 Views
51 Reviews
Rating
Shelved in 9 Libraries
Added on October 21, 2012
Last Updated on October 22, 2012
Tags: dollymop, sailor, Tyburn, chains

Author

David Lewis Paget
David Lewis Paget

Moonta, South Australia, Australia



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