Andrew Lansdown: ‘The Martyred Mother’ and ‘Little Endings’

The Martyred Mother
i.m. Hashimoto Tecla and her children, Kyoto, 1619 AD

I speak not of the other four children

who were condemned with her, nor even of

the newest child in her womb, but only

of the smallest one bound to her bosom.

One might have imagined the rope would burn

through fast so the baby’s body would fall

away from hers—slump free from the torso

to which it was tied as if to a stake.

And yet it seems the persecutors’ cord

bore the flames better than the martyrs’ flesh.

Perhaps they had soaked that rope in water

before they wrapped it around their victims?

Still, hemp’s surely coarser, tougher than flesh.

How long would it take for flames to fray it?

Longer, I guess, than it would take to melt

fat in an infant’s cheek, a woman’s breast.

Whether wet or dry, thick or thin, that rope

held out long enough for the flames to fuse

the child to its mother’s chest, meld the two

into one greasy charred misshapen lump.

On the fumie* the faithful won’t trample

the carved Madonna clasps the destined Child—

in like manner, but with bound and burned arms,

the martyred mother held her infant fast.

And in this embrace both she and the babe

defied the Shogun and exposed his shame.

Their souls rode up in palanquins of smoke,

up to their Sovereign, who wept as they came.

Andrew Lansdown

* Fumie were stone, metal or wooden plaques carved with images of Jesus or Mary and were used to identify Christians during the Tokugawa Shogunate: people who refused to tread on them revealed themselves as Christians and were tortured and (unless they apostatised) executed.

Little Endings

i

The spider’s mistake—

as it approached it set me

doing the quick-step!

ii

Worse for the snail—

hearing while night-walking that

unexpected crunch!

iii

My condolences,

grasshopper, for hopping into

my son’s affections.

iv

Howzat! The blowfly

scored a triple twenty on

the spider’s dartboard!

v

A grim irony—

aiming at a spider with

a can of fly-spray.

vi

Feeling a bit flat—

mosquito meditating

on a clapping sound.

Andrew Lansdown