October gold
and autumn green
but nettles bar my way.
Whose feet have trod upon the grass?
What homes have disappeared from this place
Leaving just a barn to grace
these dew laden fields of green.
Water boatmen rule
the main street is now a pool
families replaced by frogspawn.
Just the barn remains forlorn
and ridges in the ground
show where once people
and livestock were found.
The harvest failed
the people ailed
as the plague
raged
The village died
abandoned homes were razed
and sheep soon grazed
and no-one remembered
Billesley Trussel.
Only the church remained
and the manor next door
spa weekends and conferences
a far cry from the poor
who lived here in times gone by.
(But the farmyard stills holds
the fragrance of manure :) )
But is this the place
where Shakespeare was wed?
No proof can be found.
Just rumours abound
As each church in turn
lays claim
to the fame
and all who would know
kept the secret to their end
so bad luck "Hello"!
