History

is some kind of climb

a plinth moment

then repeated on the hour and in a different costume

History is Nelson

stepping down; another poet said

it’s a long dark chute

History is light

dawning, the way someone recalls that fact,

that feeling, the way it was whenever

History is a text, a voice, a song;

artefact of here from then we can fix

by hearing, seeing

History is a croft,

one candle burning,

the sea rushing towards it;

or a great house gas-lit by chandeliers.

History is the way eyes close and new news

becomes old.