Berkshire Giant Poetry Competition - 1st Place

As part of the Berkshire Giant project, Steve Larkin worked with local poets to develop their writing skills. This is the winning poem of the resulting competition:

Ever Afraid

by Peter Eggins

Ever afraid of his god,
Though opposed to divine right,
Obsessed with doctrine,
In the blindness of passion
Against his rural wishes
He grew from humble squire
To become a reluctant giant
Tyrant, hammer of the people
The anvil of a parliament.

Ever afraid of his power
Ever afraid to relinquish it
Walled up between giant
And god fearing squire
By the pact of regicide he made
With a parliament
Whose moods he feared
Almost like the devil himself.

Peter is a member of the Newbury Poetry workshop that meet every Monday at the Quaker Meeting House in Newbury. He took part in the workshops with Steve Larkin and this poem was written as the result of his work in those sessions. It is a deep dark abstract look at the ideas of a giant walled up, a pact and the devil himself.