Poem - Blankney Hall

One summers day in 1995 I was standing on the site that was once Blankney Hall. I tried to imagine what life in the Hall had been like. On my return home I wrote the following poem.

Blankney Hall

Stop and consider this barren earth
Where once stood Blankney Hall
Now nothing is left
No roof, no stair, no wall
Once the family home of Lords
Visited by Kings
Who came to shoot the pheasants
As for the final time they spread their wings
Stop and consider the derelict grounds
The twisting gravel path
Where ladies in their refinery
Would walk and talk and laugh
Imagine the house when guests came to stay
Greeted by butler and maid
Sedately dancing the night away
As the band on the balcony played
Stop and consider the fountain
And beyond, the bamboo lake
The overgrown sunken gardens
Once lovingly tended by hoe and by rake
See how the stables are now in decay
Where carriages once shining bright
Drove through the archway, under the clock
And magnificent horses found shelter by night
A once proud mansion to admire
Commandeered in war, destroyed by fire
Gone its secrets, gone its mystery
Lost in time, but not in history

Rodney Garlant