Horatio Mosley Moule, committed suicide, Cambridge, 1873
Horace had slashed his windpipe with a razor. He was covered in blood but conscious and was able to utter his
last words "Easy to die. Love to my mother."
last words "Easy to die. Love to my mother."
Who'll cancel this undergraduation?
They'll sneak a plot of consecrated ground for you -
All those muttering priests, your brothers -
Chasing their blues away
On this, your burial day.
Across these empty fenlands Puritan melodies float
Echoing the empty whitenesses of the sky,
All those unseen congregations,
Unrelenting in their brittle affirmations.
Before addiction or withdrawal struck,
Your quiet breath lifted the candle-flame
Flickered image into your eyes, renewed you.
Now, in January 1992, Siberian winds
Howl down these Anglian fens
No churchyard bells strike no flattened notes.
There have been so many
Last minute resignations,
Of late.
