Published on 02/24/2007

Poetry inspired by a sculpture in the Gibbard Garden, Harlow, Written by Verica Peacock (The Inn Scribers)

Inspired by two statues in Sir Frederick Gibberd's Garden, Harlow

Where they are called 'Owl' and 'Interlock'

I
What shiny metal can compete
With rocket-seeming tawny owl
Which sits midst beauty cheek by jowl
With enigma block at its feet?

Inscrutable bird holding fast
Like a beacon of light supreme
I close my eyes, begin to dream
Of other places, distant past.

When I was young, not free, but shut
in dungeon deep on concrete floor
Afraid when keys unlocked the door,
Ever hopeful of escape, but

Unlike me, you can't fly away,
Anchored and condemned to beguile -
Admired for beauty of your style
Fastened forever here to stay.

II
Juxtaposed to a flightless bird
Puzzling folk who chance to stroll by,
You pose inertly and just lie -
What wry comments you must have heard!

A variation on a theme
Each piece of iron squarley sits
On top of other baffling bits -
Completing whole, what does it mean?

Piece by piece precisely well planned
Fits all together, interlocks
Like head and hands in ancient stocks,
Puzzling beauty in gardenland.

Verica Peacock