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To Lady Asquith
“In the corner of the churchyard nearest to the house, directly beneath a darkly presiding yew tree, was a worn, flat stone. Here nothing implored the passing tribute of a sigh. There was only the bare inscription:
Here
And beneath in different lettering the words:
God grante that she lye stille.“ - Lady Cynthia Asquith, 'God Grante That She Lye Stille'
I chanced across you in a book of ghost
fiction selected by Roald Dahl.
He talked of meeting you when you
were of advancing years
and confined largely to your bed.
He also spoke of women in the dead
beloving field of ghost stories,
describing in his patriarchal way
how painting and great novels are
a mostly male art, a distant star
untouched by women’s hands,
but still the fairer sex outstrips
its rougher counterpart
in exorcising household ghosts.
The domesticity of pain
and secrets conjured in the living room,
so that a pale shade disturbs
an afternoon and makes midnight
visits a playhouse for phantoms.
Children’s tales, ghost stories,
these are what Roald Dahl
ascribed to women’s unique gifts,
and though we live in more enlightened times
I pray that you lie still.
Here
And beneath in different lettering the words:
God grante that she lye stille.“ - Lady Cynthia Asquith, 'God Grante That She Lye Stille'
I chanced across you in a book of ghost
fiction selected by Roald Dahl.
He talked of meeting you when you
were of advancing years
and confined largely to your bed.
He also spoke of women in the dead
beloving field of ghost stories,
describing in his patriarchal way
how painting and great novels are
a mostly male art, a distant star
untouched by women’s hands,
but still the fairer sex outstrips
its rougher counterpart
in exorcising household ghosts.
The domesticity of pain
and secrets conjured in the living room,
so that a pale shade disturbs
an afternoon and makes midnight
visits a playhouse for phantoms.
Children’s tales, ghost stories,
these are what Roald Dahl
ascribed to women’s unique gifts,
and though we live in more enlightened times
I pray that you lie still.
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