Wendy Watson Poet Lay

The Village Sacrifice

An English village lay at peace
Until that catastrophic day
When flea-infested rolls of fleece
Brought pestilence and death their way.

They heard the village rector say
'No remedy can bring release
In quarantine we all must stay
So that the spread of plague might cease.'

09.02.20


NOTE:

On 1 November 1666 farm worker Abraham Morten gasped his final breath - the last of 260 people to die from bubonic plague in the remote Derbyshire village of Eyam. Their fate had been sealed four months earlier when, after the onset of the plague from flea-infested cloth from London, the entire village made the remarkable decision to quarantine itself in an heroic attempt to halt the spread of the Great Plague.

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Kai Michael Neumann July 5, 2020 at 5:58 AM PS: I like the fleece instead of fleas...

Kai Michael Neumann July 5, 2020 at 5:57 AM Congratulations. Wise men and wise words. History and what we could learn from it. Kind wishes, Kai

John Watt February 16, 2020 at 6:28 PM A history lesson within the confines of a beautiful, poignant 8x8 lay. Hats off to you, Wendy for informing your readers of this heroic and tragic page from history. Congrats on your win ~ John

Charles Messina February 16, 2020 at 9:03 AM A great reminder of history, Wendy. So scary is that corona virus, hopefully it doesn't get to the same level of the plaque of past. Congrats on your 1st place win! Charlie

Line Gauthier February 9, 2020 at 1:30 PM Thanks for sharing this magnificent snippet of history and tribute, Wendy. Wendy Watson February 9, 2020 at 1:56 PM Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Line. We were discussing the coronavirus recently and this was mentioned.