Eternal Sleep In Peat
Eternal Sleep in Peat
At least a thousand years
since he lost hope
His features spoke, not of
the strangling rope
that robbed his breath,
but of a sleep, as deep as death
And peat preserved
is evidence, far sharper
than a photograph,
not yet invented,
his face, the same as one
who rested on his desk
to pause,
and not the drama, of
a flight for life,
(for crime or sacrifice,)
that brought him ,
an endless sleep
in peat
Suzanne Delaney
This poem is based on an image from real life that affected me profoundly.
When I was in Dublin a few years ago I saw a 1000 year old man
in a glass case Museum Display whose body had been dumped in a peat bog with a rope around his neck. Some say a sacrifice or an execution. I was amazed
to see the features were just like any 50 year old male you would see today. Most of the likenessesof people before photography was invented, were painted or sculpted images
and although I wouldn't doubt an artist's eye, I was never sure they could capture the real image of what people looked like back then.
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