{"id":1093,"date":"2025-09-01T18:36:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/chainlink\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:36:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:36:35","slug":"kathleen-bell-three-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/2025\/09\/01\/kathleen-bell-three-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen Bell – Three Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LEAVINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I Left behind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some left. Just being scared
wasn\u2019t enough. Cash helped
and social status
might give a useful contact.
Luck mattered most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the left behind,
we struggled. The unlucky always do.
Some were unwise. You call them martyrs.
Most kept their heads down, had to endure
blockade and damaged harvest.
And those in charge \u2013
you know how rulers are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At times they made us act
in ways we didn\u2019t like
or choose<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and when the bad time ended
and the new invaders came
as conquerors who asked
\u201cWhy?\u201d and \u201cHow could you?
Can you say you didn\u2019t know?\u201d
we, left behind, were far too cowed
to ask, \u201cAnd you \u2013
what horrors have you seen?\u201d
and \u201cIn our place
are you quite sure
you\u2019d have said no
and died as meekly as we once obeyed?\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


\u2003
II The lucky<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rich, the well-connected and the lucky
were met by instant love and a cold welcome.
After some weeks, their hosts began to murmur
\u201cWhy can\u2019t you learn \u2013
faster than that \u2013 our ways and words?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic skills once left to servants
defeated them.
Lawyers, professors, doctors, engineers
failed to obey
the young and newly-trained.
Their ears picked up
the tone of insult.
They had no insulation from contempt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so, if they needed
to burnish their self-worth by finding
some others to despise,
who could condemn them?
Mostly they chose the poor,
inhabitants of a much safer country
than a lost homeland, and observed
How rough their manners were,
their language ill-pronounced,
their days lacked grace \u2013
and oh the laziness, the drunkenness, the dirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


\u2003
III The despised<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you see, daily,
the bag clutched close,
the coat-tails pulled away,
the wrinkled nose, the sigh,
the shudder \u2013 and are told to
\u201cMake them welcome\u201d, or
\u201cBe more like them \u2013 work hard\u201d,
what should you say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You overheard:
\u201cI had nine servants once.
I never learned to cook or wash my clothes\u201d
and wonder what their servants thought
or how their riches came about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve welcomed neighbours in the past
with cups of tea or beer and chat
but these despise you \u2013 and you know the flat
(next-door but one) that they condemn
as \u201cstuffy, grimy, cramped\u201d
is big and comfy-warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They never say hello.
Their visitors arrive with gifts and pity \u2013
plenty for them and nothing left for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your child cries in the night.
You wake and hold it close,
sing and play music.
Later on, their child
pushes a door ajar
and brightens with a smile
which you return
because contempt, like hatred, should be earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathleen Bell<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEAVINGS I Left behind Some left. Just being scaredwasn\u2019t enough. Cash helpedand social statusmight give a useful contact.Luck mattered most. As for the left behind,we struggled. The unlucky always do.Some were unwise….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-september-2025"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sept25W.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbook.org.uk\/NLR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}