Came to nothing, every one; those large stones
Out of the earth served the systems
Of those who considered them, as explaining
Something about the past it was important
For the explainer to explain. And yet
No one had any idea truly; there was no
Basis in fact for any view of them, and
They remained like their origins-or like
Smiling Olmec babies, sweet but ominous figures
Come from the earth to reproach us, almost
Cheerfully, for our ignorance-a mystery, just
As the probe of our feelings came up with nothing.
SUE STANDING
Solitaire
The Venerable Bede was here
&
here
thanks to the prick of the needle
of his temperament
&
faith .
Now, at Jarrow, in a vacant lot
near the ruins of his monastery
&
the window made from fragments
of the oldest stained glass in England,
we see a huge hoarding
announcing "Bede's World":
What will it be?
An Anglo-Saxon Disneyland
of Viking raids
&
blown-up runes?
Battery-powered anchorites
&
cutaway
