THE NEW NOBLE by David Erdos

 

THE NEW NOBLE

The new noble arrive as if unexpected; wrenching themselves

From the mire, they’ll be finding the more in what’s left.

Or, less, come to that, for as cash retreats, work goes with it,

And yet they continue, determined to live, while bereft.

These are the heroes within their stilled or stalled moment;

Those who have used these restrictions to refine who they are

And adapt, not to the new normal: fuck that, but to this new

Noble, in which reduction means focus and the avoidance

As well of the trap that fate or society sets, as a possible means

To uproot us, saving us from that monstrous notion of an

Immigrants’ island, or to a place of confusion where even

Simple human breath sparks attack.  These new aristocrats

Are the Kings and Queens found in friendship; those whose

Separate hardships embolden their attempts to return

To the world. Those with their own businesses, searching

Like worms through turned landscape, or those defending

Their homes and honour to create a family flag to unfurl.

One brother of mine has risked his own health and safety

To escort his visiting child to her home. Forced to take

A Covid test landing there, he was in danger of missing

The flight to return him, and faces a possible month

Within exile, which while connected replaces the life

He would want to live with a phone. Another is also a short

Flight away, attending to the possible final days of his father,

Another has just lost his Mother as the path to our pasts

Fall unclaimed in this violent age, whose unseen strikes

Scar all aspects, the sense of nobility rises across these battlefields

Unimagined and these struggles with faith, place and pain.

We are the meat on which the privileged few have been

Dining. But they should know and must realise that every

Now and then meat bites back. If they make us meek

We will seek and search for a better earth to inherit,

If they hold us down, then the water that flows between

Dreams casts fresh seas, on which one day we will float,

Or upon which our children will float. Or grandchildren.

From the flotsam and jetsam they fashion new kingdoms

And coasts shall be freed. We will be remaking the air,

Even as we dream of far planets, upon which my noble

Lords and ladies re-establish themselves beyond class.

There, long may they live with their loves and with all

Of the things damned by distance. For in their separated

Stance they find closeness and dignity too in the task.

These are the people I know and that you do, too, I am certain.

We make our own private palace to which the heart admits

Public pass. I applaud you all. Come on in. Long may

We drink from hope’s chalice. For that is the challenge:

To let love’s standards return.

My heart asks.

David Erdos, October 29th 2020

For more poems from David Erdos visit The Corona Diaries collection 

David Erdos is an actor, writer, director with over 300 professional credits. He is a published poet, playwright, essayist and illustrator. He has lectured on all disciplines in theatre and film for leading performing arts colleges, schools and universities around the world. His books include EASY VERSES FOR DIFFICULT TIMES, THE SCAR ON THE CLOUD, OIL ON SILVER, NEWS FROM MARS, CHANGING PLACES WITH LIGHT (penniless press) and BYZANTIUM with the photographer Max Reeves. He is a contributing editor for The International Times and maker of documentaries all over the world. David’s work has been acclaimed by many leading figures including Harold Pinter, Heathcote Williams, Alan Moore, Andrew Kotting, Chris Petit and Iain Sinclair in whose recent book THE LAST LONDON, David features. He can be reached at David.erdos@sky.com.

David Erdos

©    David Erdos has asserted his moral rights as author of his work and has full copyright.