A Secret Burial © 08 Beryl Dyson

The old man leant on the almshouse door,
Frail and bent, his heartbeat poor,
Hard work and years now plagued his bones,
Movements made caused painful groans.
Some years beyond three score and ten,
Life’s end in sight, the Lord knows when,
A tale of villainy, his wont to relate,
His chosen listener, a girl from Park Gate,
She regularly passed as the school bell rang,
A rope for skipping or book in hand,
His sense of urgency, an uncanny feeling,
Drove him to tell her, perhaps this evening.
“Hoy! Girl!” He calls: “I’ve a story to tell,
Livermere history, an unusual burial.”
The girl paused to listen, knew Mr. Carmen
With great respect as a village historian.
“The Arundell family were Cornish nobility,
Held vast estates and mixed with royalty.
Arundell Coke, a barrister-at-law,
A devious scoundrel, from Livermere Hall,
Contrived to have his brother-in-law slain;
Coke with cut-purse Woodburn did only maim.
It meant death on the gallows to maim or disfigure.
"No! No!" Coke pleaded, their intention was murder.
Coke fought for their lives with words and fury,
But didn’t convince the Judge or Jury.
Near the Churchyard, where the foul deed was done,
Thirtyfirst of March, Seventeen twenty one,
On Angel Hill Bury, Arundell Coke was hanged;
Then to bury his body a plot was planned.
A criminal in consecrated ground isn’t right,
So his friends dug a grave and a tunnel at night
Outside the Church fence, at Livermere Pava,
All secret, mind, so he could rest with his father.
Coke’s coffin was pushed into consecrated ground,
Opposite the east window. A parson around?
Klzia, his widow, disgraced, broken hearted,
Sold the Estate and quickly departed.
Girl, remember this story, tell the next generation.”
By the look on her face, she’d have no hesitation.
She bade him ‘goodbye’, then went on her way.
He lit the tobacco in his short pipe of clay.
Horrific details of that night he’d not told her,
The blood mangled face of the maimed Bury Grocer,
Edmund Crisp, the brother-in-law Coke left for dead
With billhook blows, Woodburn rained on his head.
Greed, Lust for money, was the barrister’s demise,
Chief Justice King’s sentence was Coke’s great surprise.
This village story, passed-on once more,
He felt sure of a place in the churchyard next door.

• (Note: The maiming took place in St. Mary’s Churchyard, Bury St. Edmund).