Fallen Comrade - Adam Elms 1 Apr Written By Andrew Stuck One of the Top 40 submissions in our 2023 Urban Tree Festival writing competition. Fallen Comrade “(A tribute to the ‘Thomas Hardy Tree.’)The night watchman is toppled. Encircled by death, he now lies himself devoid of breath, a lonestump staring up to his heaven.I realise never again will hehear those bells peal nor rattle his leavesto the wind’s playful fight.His bowers have bent to shelter whispering lovers andrain-drowned wanderers; to peer; to overhear;to keep wise counsel. To nod his approvalat knee-bent hopefuls and shield office lunchers fromtheir urban hotchpotch; to exhale; to snatch up the gale;to offer solace; an arm hooked round the solitary mourner,claws of gnarl knitted together with clenched grief.Rings shot through with echoes.Never spoken.Who weeps for you, old guard?And St Pancras sits, thoughtfully, silently,aching for his comrade whilst Hardy tutsfrom the churchyard corner.He knows this is the way of things.” Adam Elms Adam Elms is a visually impaired creative living in Bristol navigating his mid-thirties with wild abandon (and poetry). Loves books, but buys too many. Andrew Stuck
Fallen Comrade - Adam Elms 1 Apr Written By Andrew Stuck One of the Top 40 submissions in our 2023 Urban Tree Festival writing competition. Fallen Comrade “(A tribute to the ‘Thomas Hardy Tree.’)The night watchman is toppled. Encircled by death, he now lies himself devoid of breath, a lonestump staring up to his heaven.I realise never again will hehear those bells peal nor rattle his leavesto the wind’s playful fight.His bowers have bent to shelter whispering lovers andrain-drowned wanderers; to peer; to overhear;to keep wise counsel. To nod his approvalat knee-bent hopefuls and shield office lunchers fromtheir urban hotchpotch; to exhale; to snatch up the gale;to offer solace; an arm hooked round the solitary mourner,claws of gnarl knitted together with clenched grief.Rings shot through with echoes.Never spoken.Who weeps for you, old guard?And St Pancras sits, thoughtfully, silently,aching for his comrade whilst Hardy tutsfrom the churchyard corner.He knows this is the way of things.” Adam Elms Adam Elms is a visually impaired creative living in Bristol navigating his mid-thirties with wild abandon (and poetry). Loves books, but buys too many. Andrew Stuck