Poem of the week: Henry Marsh – ‘Of the Monstrous Regiment’

By HENRY MARSH
Published on 16/02/2013 00:00

MARY, Queen of Scots and John Knox remain among the most colourful and controversial characters in Scottish history.

Henry Marsh has written about both figures before; his last collection of verse, for example, The Hammer and the Fire (Maclean Dubois, £10) starts with a suite of poems about Knox. Marsh will appear at the Scottish Poetry Library on 20 February at 6:30pm to read his Mary and Knox poems, accompanied by live Scottish fiddle tunes.

Were you fed by ravens

Master Knox? At the least,

your zealous brethren

obliged with a wilderness

where you could approve

crows nodding

amongst shards and ashes.

Jezebel – how convenient,

the heft of the old stories:

a stolen vineyard,

Naboth stoned,

and Yahweh harrying

your captive souls

half demented.

How neat, to cast

our mischievous Marys

in one image –

a painted whore.

Did you ever catch

in a mirror your own

soul’s darker strands?

Thou shalt die the death –

even Calvin winced

at regicide. Were not all

equal in the sight of God?

But who dares walk

that perilous ridge

between iniquities?

• You can borrow The Hammer and the Fire from the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. Tel: [phone], e-mail [e-mail] or see www.spl.org.uk for details.