Poem 505
Final sequence from The Nightdress … the reprise of Thyme Honey (see Poem 370) sung by the 100 year old Constance after she has bookended her life by finally slaying the little murderer within – followed by Fallen Angel sung by the full chorus of her family as they welcome her into death …
( I like the way the middle eight details each person Constance has been over her long life, how she realises family blood (both spilt and inherited) is the sticky trap she has been struggling in, and how the nightdress, indelible proof of guilt, returns … )
Thyme Honey (Reprise) / Fallen Angel (2)
Silent dust in a sunbeam who comes here who comes no more voices from a distant dream sound of a softly closing door Fate always to be the last waiting here in shriveled skin to bear witness to the past speak once and be forgotten All my lives in time's honey out of reach each lost me nothing can alter nothing she can do differently Family blood is time's honey a hundred years ending here more than one I was many one by one each disappears The addled egg the saved baby Pratt's creature a motherless child stubborn girl cool murderer cunning suspect hopeless suicide faceless prisoner new Australian nursing sister lazaret matron wise old woman last survivor a century's selves locked inside her a century's selves die inside her The world turns some go on our dead grab at us from the ground who knows who we step upon who holds us up who drags us down We are caught in time's honey all caught and can't fight free we come to taste the sweetness stay to struggle endlessly We're all caught in time's honey we're caught and can't fight free we come to taste the sweetness stay to struggle endlessly come to taste the sweetness stay to struggle endlessly ... Fallen Angel (2) Fallen angel are you going now singing in the darkness spiraling down you're deep in the heart of us always a part of us spiraling down fallen angel can't escape us we're family together down in the ground Fallen angel it's your time now don't hold on anymore the nightdress you wore was lost but now is found muddily bloodily but finally family we've waited here forever for you Fallen angel muddily bloodily but finally family Fallen angel …