> Hello Arthur,
               I enjoyed this very much. I like the well-controlled description and the tone and rhythm of the lines. Only two things I´d put a question mark beside - `Lethe´ seems a bit out of place and I feel that``nowadays he´d not be noticed´ breaks the tone of the poem. I found myself wondering whether he would really, or not, be noticed and forgetting about everything the rest of the poem had created. These are just a coupple of ideas, hope they´re useful.


Best wishes,   Mike



> Lähettäjä: Arthur Seeley <[log in to unmask]>
> Päiväys: 2003/09/23 ti AM 11:12:00 GMT+03:00
> Vastaanottaja: [log in to unmask]
> Aihe: New Sub: Keighley
> 
>                            Keighley
> 
>  
> 
> There is no other reason for the place to be here,
> 
> cluttering the valley, sprawling up steep hills, 
> 
> a collage of styles, materials and aspirations,
> 
> but it's the same with most places round here;
> 
> a swift run of soft water out of the moors and gritstone hills, 
> 
> dammed and weired, a market for woollen goods in a wider world,
> 
> all that was needed to build a town -so they did.
> 
>  
> 
> It decays now. The mills are silent and their chimneys cold.
> 
> The streams are Lethes, where wraiths wander along the banks. 
> 
> Thin as willow wands, pale as peeled sticks,
> 
> they murder their memories, choke on their childhoods.
> 
>  
> 
> Long ago they found a mad man in the Beck,
> 
> naked and knee-deep in the cold  rapids, 
> 
> laughing and singing vulgar songs to hymn tunes.
> 
> They pulled him out, dried him, warmed him, 
> 
> gave him some clothes and a penny 
> 
> and put him on the road to Halifax,
> 
> the story goes. nowadays he'd not be noticed.
> 
>