TRIP TO ELTHAM PALACE

On a Sunny but somewhat rainy day, I went to Eltham Palace, to see what discoveries were to be made there. English Heritage has opened the building to the public and this collection is inspired by the learning materials and photographs that I took, while visiting. It is a very grand place, hidden from view, with extensive gardens with most unusual feeling. I invite you to my imagination, sparked off by other's inspiration.

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“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Your Secret

Your eyes sublime and secretive caught mine,

A message I understood without understanding,

Owned without ownership I was like a stray,

Or an orphan with nothing to my name.

I did own something though – your secrets and your heart were mine,

Entering your secret door I revealed nothing,

For fear I would be discovered.

Books lined upon the shelves,

I plucked and read for erudition and subterfuge,

But you had the key and you unlocked it.

Beside the lecture was a room

And the lecture told a tale sordid and compact,

Therein lay man’s intention,

As violent as a storm at sea and as frustrated as the shore,

A pact was made and therein began frustration.

There was too little time between the sheets and words,

Too little though, careless noted weight

And misconstrued lies as promises unkept,

Love’s true vows do not come in a mathematical formula

But we found the proof.

In your eyes I saw the truth but from your mouth

Only confusion was uttered.

“It's life that matters, nothing but life—the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Walking through the Palace, the past was there, connected to the present. The 30s look masked the historical significance, in a sense, as great things had occurred in this place - it famously being the lodging of Henry VIII himself. The family that lived there last was a very fashionable and interesting group. There were books and trinkets that showed the lavish and educated spirit of the age, that the literature of the time seems to be pervaded with. It is also famous now for having hosted 'the celebrities of the age' and so it was an interesting place to visit. My poems reflect some of this, but mostly came from the immediate inspiration I felt as I looked at the individual photograph, I had selected from a larger set.